Lawyer and coalition member Kenneth Okonkwo has declared the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the only true opposition party in Nigeria, dismissing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) as parties that “exist only on paper.”
Gatekeepers News Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Okonkwo argued that PDP and LP had lost relevance because their leaders were openly aligning with either the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or the ADC.
“Strictly speaking, there is no longer any party like the PDP or LP. They are just existing on paper because whoever is in the PDP is either supporting the APC or the ADC. That’s what it is,” he said.
Citing the conduct of former Rivers governor and PDP leader Nyesom Wike, Okonkwo added:
“If the leaders of the PDP have come out openly to say they are supporting the presidential candidate of another political party, that’s the end of the party. You are there when a Wike who is supposed to be a leader of the PDP had told you openly that he was going to support the presidential candidate of another political party. So, where is he? And he had told you that anything and anybody that goes against whatever he says, he will ignite fire in his state. And he has told you that whatever he says is law. And in fairness to him, it has been like that.”
Okonkwo, who served as a spokesperson for Peter Obi during the 2023 election under LP, further said the Labour Party lacked the structure to contest effectively in 2027.
“The ADC is the only political party that is the opposition party,” he stressed.
When asked if the ADC would adopt Obi as its 2027 presidential candidate, he replied:
“No, the ADC is going to a democratic, free, fair presidential primary election, and whoever emerges, the party will support the person against Tinubu in 2027. That is the democratic thing to do. The ADC is courting every Nigerian without any preference for anybody because in 2027, it’s going to be the people of Nigeria against the APC, and the ADC is that alternative that they should have.”
On July 2, 2025, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Obi, ex-Senate President David Mark, former ministers Rauf Aregbesola and Rotimi Amaechi, and ex-Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, among others, endorsed the ADC as the platform of a new opposition coalition to challenge the APC in 2027.
The ruling APC, however, has dismissed the coalition. President Tinubu, during a state visit to Nasarawa on June 25, described its members as “political IDPs.”
“Just don’t pay them any attention. They are the political IDPs. Don’t give them a home. The hope is here,” Tinubu said.
