The Democratic Front (TDF) has condemned what it described as the duplicitous and manipulative manner in which the new political coalition deceptively invited some notable Nigerian politicians, including the former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, to the adoption of African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a seemingly serious political platform.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Mallam Danjuma Muhammad, and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, it argued that it undermines trust to deceitfully invite people to the adoption of a political group they had no intention of being part of.
TDF said: “It is unfortunate that at a time when Nigerians expected the emergence of a credible opposition to deepen democratic practice in the country, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his supporters in the opposition would serve Nigerians a diet of deceit at the unveiling of their new political platform.
“We were shocked that someone of the caliber of former Niger State governor Babangida Aliyu would claim he was invited to the meeting under a false pretense.
“TDF expects the former Vice President and his co-conspirators in the coalition to tender an unreserved apology to Dr. Aliyu, and a host of others that were deceptively invited to a supposed meeting of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), only to be used as appendages for adopting another political party, which they knew nothing about.
“Former Governor Aliyu’s narratives, through a recorded video that recently went viral on social media, claimed that he was deceived into the ADC gathering, in a manner that sounds like a rehash of section 419 of the Criminal Code.
“No genuine power dynamics bloc or political movement aimed at fostering a healthy opposition can emerge from such a dishonest, deceptive, and defective self-serving arrangement.
“We recall that Nigerians have been sceptical in recent months, over the ability of the former Vice President and other aggrieved politicians, to midwife a credible political opposition in Nigeria’s democratic space, due to their tainted past political records which have been evidenced in the last two decades.
“However, the doubts in the public space have been justified by the sly and disingenuous scheming being employed to hoodwink gladiators such as former Governor Aliyu into adopting the ADC as a new platform.
TDF also wondered why many of them are still holding on to the membership of their former parties while claiming to be in another political party.
“It shows a total lack of faith and self-confidence in their ability to form a credible political opposition against the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“We are therefore not surprised that the much-advertised adoption of ADC by the aggrieved politicians did not generate the political euphoria and appeal that greeted the birth of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014. This is because the coalition lacks the necessary ideological foundation
“In our estimations, the only common ground of consensus and unity among the members of the so-called coalition is the selfish desire to regain control of lost political power,” the statement added.
TDF also urges Nigerians to dismiss the ADC as a gathering of disgruntled politicians who did horrendous damage to Nigeria’s political and economic potential between 1999 and 2015.
