Bayo Onanuga Highlights Othersides Of New ADC Leaders, Advises Nigerians

Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, has dismissed the recent hype surrounding the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its newly paraded political figures, describing them as “desperados, hungry for power” and united only by their bitterness toward President Tinubu.

In a sharp reaction to what he called “a hijacked ADC,” Onanuga insisted that many of the so-called leaders of the emerging coalition are not active APC members, contrary to opposition claims.

“Some members of the hijacked ADC, who were reported as members of the APC, left the APC years and months ago,” he said, and added “Let the public not be deceived by the opposition’s narrative about their relevance or whether the APC will mourn their departure.”

He called out former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, asserting that Amaechi “left the APC in 2022, after losing the presidential primary to President Tinubu. His soul departed the party then.”

On Abubakar Malami, the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Onanuga said: “Malami has never hidden his estrangement from the APC since Tinubu assumed leadership and since he lost the governorship bid in Kebbi.”

He also slammed Hadi Sirika, the former Minister of Aviation, now one of the faces of the new ADC. “Sirika is now with the ADC and facing trial for contract splitting and other allegations. Is this who they want to market as credible leadership?”

Turning to Rauf Aregbesola, the former Minister of Interior and a one-time Tinubu ally, Onanuga did not hold back. “The renegade Rauf Aregbesola committed anti-party in the last Osun election and was expelled as an unfit APC member. He’s now parading himself as a reformer?”

He also described Kashim Imam and Chief John Odigie Oyegun, a former APC national chairman, as embittered politicians with personal grievances. “Imam abandoned the APC after failing to secure the vice-presidential ticket in 2022. Oyegun, who has since lost interest in the APC, has been a foundational member of this coalition since inception.”

Onanuga warned Nigerians not to be fooled by the emergence of this political bloc. “My advice to Nigerians: Keep your eyes wide open. A political party with no clear agenda or ideology—whose members are united only by their hatred for President Tinubu—cannot be good for our country. It will only set us back by decades.”

He described the coalition as a gathering of individuals desperate for power, not for service, but self-interest. “These politicians are desperados, hungry for power, not for the benefit of Nigerians but for themselves. They want power at all costs because they cannot endure another four years in the political wilderness or be banished to political winter and irrelevance.”

Predicting a quick collapse of the alliance, Onanuga concluded: “What is certain is that the group will soon unravel due to their irreconcilable personal and political ambitions.”