Panic has gripped the African Democratic Congress as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission allegedly targets key members of the 2027 coalition, who are working to unseat President Bola Tinubu at the 2027 election.

This comes as the EFCC on Monday interrogated former Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, a member of the coalition, over an alleged fraudulent cash withdrawals amounting to N189bn.

Tambuwal, who governed Sokoto State from 2015 to 2023, arrived at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja around 11:30am and was taken in for questioning by investigators.

An EFCC source told us that the withdrawals were suspected to be in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

The source said, “Former Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal is being held over alleged fraudulent cash withdrawals to the tune of N189billion.

“The withdrawals are in flagrant violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022. The governor arrived the EFCC’s headquarters around 11:30am and faced interrogators on the alleged financial crime.”

Another official of the commission, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said, “He is in custody at our Abuja corporate headquarters. The investigation is ongoing.”

When contacted, EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, declined to comment on the matter but ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, confirmed to The PUNCH  three former governors, who are key leaders of the coalition, had been invited by the anti-graft body.

In an exclusive interview, ADC Abdullahi stated, “Yes, they have summoned our members, but I won’t give you names. There are three of them, former governors. Some are already members of the National Assembly, while others are not.

“Some left office in 2023, and some even earlier than that. This is an attempt to force them to leave the coalition, or to intimidate them into not taking an active part in it. But we are determined to rescue Nigeria.”

In a statement issued earlier on Monday, Abdullahi had alleged that the EFCC had compromised its integrity by reopening old cases against opposition politicians while turning a blind eye to allegations involving the ruling All Progressives Congress members.

Responding, the EFCC refuted the accusation of being a political tool of the APC, maintaining that opposition members found guilty of wrongdoing would face prosecution in court.

The ADC, however, warned that selective probes for the ruling party eroded public trust and weakened the fight against corruption.

The ADC statement read, “In recent days, several senior members of the Opposition Coalition have received EFCC summons that are clearly politically motivated. These are not fresh cases arising from new evidence but new files opened in reaction to emergent political affiliations to intimidate key opposition figures.

“The EFCC was created to be a fearless defender of the Nigerian people’s trust, applying the law evenly to all, friend or foe, ruling party or opposition. Today, that vision appears to have been compromised. The Commission now operates like a department of the APC, deployed to fight government critics and opposition figures thereby achieving what the government cannot achieve through public debate.

“Meanwhile, we have observed how investigations into ruling party allies quietly fade away while opposition figures are dragged before the court of public opinion with sometimes decade-old allegations that have been hastily revived and dressed up as fresh evidence. This is selective prosecution, and selective prosecution is the death of justice.

“It does appear that in today’s Nigeria, one’s guilt or innocence depends on one’s party membership, not evidence. For example, since a certain former governor defected to the APC with his state’s entire political machinery, the EFCC’s investigations into his administration have vanished from public view. Not a question has been asked. Not a document leaked. Not a single update. Yet the same EFCC still somehow find means to reopen old cases against opposition leaders and pursue the stale allegations against them.”

ADC stressed that the EFCC is owned by the Nigerian people and funded by taxpayers, not the APC.

ADC added, “It does not augur well for the EFCC if people think that all you need to point the accusing hands of the Commission in your direction is to stand opposed to the ruling party and all that it takes for protection is to align with the government.

“Unfortunately, this is the widely established perception in Nigeria today, which the commission by its recent actions, including the ongoing surreptitious harassment of opposition leaders, has given credence to.

“The ADC hereby calls on all Nigerians, civil society organisations, and the independent media to resist this dangerous slide into dictatorship and misuse of public institutions to achieve partisan objectives. The EFCC does not belong to the APC. It belongs to the Nigerian people. It is funded by taxpayers, not the ruling party.”

Reacting, the EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale described the ADC’s allegations as untenable, daring the party to back its claims with facts.

He said, “This position is patently untenable and ridiculous. Where are the facts and statistics to justify such a claim?

“The commission is non-partisan and non-sectarian. Are cases Abdullahi is talking about concocted by the EFCC? Those who did the crime should be ready to have their time in court. Available records in our courts are enough to show that the EFCC only operates by its mandate, and the mandate does not make it an appendage of any political party.”

Multiple sources in the coalition, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak on the issue, said the EFCC move has sparked panic in the coalition camp.

One of the sources said, “A lot of our coalition members are concerned by this brazen show of power by the EFCC, which is obviously being used by those in power. But we won’t keep pushing for a better Nigeria.”

This development further deepens the crisis in the opposition coalition as several top politicians distanced themselves from the group in recent weeks.

In a document dated July 29, 2025, and signed by the National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Tanko Yunusa, accused the coalition of marginalising its members despite their pivotal role in strengthening the political bloc.

Listing their grievances, Tanko cited lack of inclusion in major deliberations. According to him, none of Peter Obi’s loyalists was deemed good enough to share a table with the ADC decision makers.

“Several of our designated representatives and members are reportedly being excluded from crucial meetings where major decisions affecting the coalition are made.

“This creates an impression of marginalisation and undermines trust, which is essential for building a sustainable partnership,” he lamented.

In an exclusive interview Tanko stated that Peter Obi would make a decision on whether to join the ADC at the right time, stressing that he is not struggling for relevance within the coalition setup.

“His Excellency Peter Obi has said that he’s joining the coalition for the 2027 general election. At the moment, he’s made it clear that he’s a member of the Labour Party. So, when that time comes, he will take his decision.”

Also, former Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, declared his support for the APC and President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.

This is as he dismissed claims linking him to a governorship ambition under the ADC.

In a Friday statement, he described the reports as “false publications” intended to cause distractions.

“I wish to publicly reaffirm my absolute and unshakable loyalty to the APC, the party under which I had the privilege of serving Lagos State as governor in 2015, and to President Bola Tinubu, my leader, mentor, and a tireless champion for Nigeria’s progress,” Ambode said.

In the same vein, former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, stated that he remained a committed member and leader of the APC in Ekiti State.

The former governor, in a statement on Sunday by the Head, Fayemi Media Office, Abuja, Ahmad Sajoh, dismissed a claim in a viral statement attributed to former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, that he and Fayemi founded the ADC coalition before expanding it to include others.

Sajoh said, “Despite efforts to verify this statement, which has gained traction on social and digital media, we have found no credible evidence to support it.

We unequivocally state that these claims lack any basis. Dr Fayemi remains a committed member and leader of the APC in Ekiti State.

“At various public forums in Ekiti and nationwide, he has consistently affirmed his dedication to the APC, working to address its challenges and advance its progressive ideals for Nigeria. Nothing has changed.”

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, also distanced himself from the report that he had dumped the ruling APC for the opposition coalition.

Mustapha, in a statement on Sunday, described the reports as fake news, stressing that he has not engaged in any discussions with members of the opposition or their coalition partners.

“My attention has been drawn to a news story in circulation associating me with the opposition alliance and their choice of the ADC as their political party.

“I want the general public to know that this is fake news. I am not in any opposition alliance, and I am not in any discussion with those who are involved,” the statement read.

Also, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has put on hold his planned collection of the African Democratic Congress membership card, amid growing speculation that former President Goodluck Jonathan may join the 2027 presidential race and he is being courted by the ADC.

Atiku, who recently resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party after prolonged internal disputes, was scheduled to formalise his defection to ADC with the collection of his membership card.

The membership card would be presented to Atiku by ADC officials at his hometown of Jada, in the Jada Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

However it was gathered that the ceremony, which was slated for Wednesday, August 6, was postponed indefinitely without an official explanation from the former vice president’s camp.

Meanwhile, the 2023 Governorship Candidates of the 36 states under ADC on Monday urged on opposition coalition to follow due process in the transition process.

The candidates in a statement by their  spokesperson, Terhemen Tilley-Gyado who was the ADC governorship candidate in the 2023 election in Benue said there was a need to address the Nigerian public on recent developments within the ADC.

He stated, “We unanimously acknowledge, appreciate and support the voluntary resignation of our amiable National Chairman, Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu. In line with the party’s constitution, we endorse the seamless transition of leadership to the Deputy National Chairman, Hon. Nafiu Bala, who will henceforth oversee the Office of the National Chairman in an acting capacity. This decision ensures stability and continuity in our party’s mission.

“We respectfully urge esteemed leaders of the proposed coalition-including Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Senator David Mark, Mr. Peter Obi, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Abubakar Malami SAN, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, and others to adhere strictly to due process.

“This entails: Formal resignation from their former political parties, and Registration as bona fide members of the ADC at their respective Ward levels in line with the Electoral Act.”

The chieftains affirmed that the ADC is a progressive, integrity-focused platform committed to driving Nigeria’s democratic renewal.

On Monday, the factional National Chairman of the ADC, Nafiu Bala, pledged to strengthen internal democracy within the party.

He made the promise in Abuja during his endorsement as Acting National Chairman by some party chieftains.

Bala, who was the ADC’s governorship candidate in Gombe State during the 2023 general elections, had declared himself interim national chairman after accusing former party leaders of neglecting their constitutional duties and handing over the party’s structures to “powerful outsiders” with no affiliation to the ADC.

Speaking during the ceremony, Bala said, “I welcome you all to this significant event, marking the transition of leadership within our great party, the African Democratic Congress.

“I am deeply honoured to accept your endorsement as Acting National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress. I also wish to express my profound gratitude to each and every one of you for your trust and confidence in me.

“As your Acting National Chairman, I pledged to lead this party with integrity, wisdom, and dedication. I will work tirelessly to strengthen our party, promote unity, and advance our collective vision for a better Nigeria.

“My leadership focal point shall be: To strengthen our party structures as an institution; To enhance internal democracy and inclusivity; To promote policy development and implementation of party’s resolutions; To foster strategic partnerships and alliances with any group of individuals who extend their hands of friendship to us and to build a strong, vibrant, and effective leadership team.”

Bala thanked the ADC’s National Board of Trustees, National Executive Committee members, state chairmen, and 2023 governorship candidates for their endorsement.

He stated, “I assure you of my commitment to collaborative leadership. Together, we will build stronger, more united, more prosperous, and effective political party in Nigeria.

“Let us work together to achieve our party’s objectives and build a brighter future for our people and our dear nation.”

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Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, is of the opinion that President Tinubu did not win the 2023 presidential election.

Babachir shared this opinion in an interview with Channels TV on Monday, August 11. The former SGF said that based on the facts available to him, Tinubu did not win the election that produced him as Nigeria’s 16th president.

According to him, Tinubu used to be his friend but no more as he, President Tinubu, is too full of himself.

“The problem with Bola Tinubu is that he thinks I’m the one that offended him. I didn’t offend him, he offended me and he is full of himself, and he thinks that he now so-called president… I believe he didn’t win the election,” he said

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Chief Akin Oshintokun, 63, former political adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo; director of the Presidential Campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in 2011; and director-general of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council of the Labour Party, LP in 2023, in this interview, shares his thoughts among others on socio-political happenings and permutations ahead of the 2027 polls, and avers that without a united opposition President Bola Tinubu would be re-elected.

The polity is witnessing defections across party lines. Won’t it hurt the 2027 elections?

That is a platitude. Any trend towards one-party dictatorship is not good, especially for an inherently pluralistic country. The reason for this is rooted in what we call ‘zero-sum politics’ where the winner takes all and the loser loses all. It prioritises patronage and consumption politics over a positive correlation between reward and productivity.

The major facilitator of this culture is the prevailing quasi-unitary casino economy. The embodiment of this insidious system is the over-centralisation of power in the executive, otherwise known as the presidency. If you have a president as we currently have (and the one before him) who is prepared to test the dysfunctional limits of the constitution, what you get is a leviathan, and what follows is the phenomenon of state capture. In other words, all the other organs of government, the legislature and the judiciary, are subordinated to the president.

It certainly impoverishes the political party system because it is a precursor of one-party dictatorship. These defections are also a reflection of total loss of faith and confidence in the capacity of the electoral agency and the judiciary. If these two bodies have integrity and credibility, no complainant would feel compelled to be in the good books of the president to get justice.

At the other end, there are the unpopular candidates who would require the president’s support to get them into office. The other name of this state capture is one-party dictatorship. It is the logic of this trend that is playing out in the anomie of political leaders absconding from their parties to grovel at the feet of the president.

This is bad behaviour, quite alright but it is realistic and practical. The president, as it were, has an arsenal of powers to promote, thwart and frustrate the political aspirations of any other player. The president is like Father Christmas who is invested with all the goodies to share as he wills. And he is a magnet for all manners of economic supplicants, especially the greedy ones. This is why the race to clinch the presidency is akin to a mad stampede, in the pursuit of which aspirants would take no prisoners. This is why it is the most destabilising factor of Nigerian politics

What is the root cause of the Labour Party crisis?

The roots of the crisis lie in the divergence of aspirations between the illegal Abure national party executive and the Peter Obi writ large army called the Obidients. The former is the rough and ready mercenary with the mission to exploit the party for filthy lucre while the other largely consists of reform-minded young progressive Nigerians.

Ultimately, the crisis hacks back to the reality that Nigeria is bereft of a viable political party system. What we call parties are no more than special purpose vehicles, SPV, for contesting elections. They are ideologically indistinguishable and that is why their boundaries are so porous such that upwards of 60 percent of those who founded the APC were PDP functionaries. With specific regards to the Labour Party, the Abure national executive has effectively become the agent

Do you think the LP stands a chance in the 2027 elections?

There is nothing like a viable Labour Party without Peter Obi. So maybe you need to rephrase your question as, is Obi a viable candidate in the 2027 presidential election? The answer, of course, is a conditional yes. Now, you know that there is a difference between winning elections and being declared as winning the election in Nigeria. The viability of his aspiration is conditional on such other factors as the vulnerability of a fractious opposition. If the opposition parties can pool together to present Obi as their presidential candidate, then Tinubu may be on his way out of the Aso Rock villa.

It is, however, a different ball game altogether for the president to accept defeat. I can’t see through the thick fog of a scenario in which he would accept any result other than his declaration as a winner.

What is your take on the state of the nation?

Nothing captures contemporary Nigeria more than (a state of) anomie and political dysfunction. In the short term to mid-term, the one-size-fits-all all prescribed cure (deregulation of the downstream oil sector and floating of the forex market) had stabilised the economy literally at the expense of unbearable immiserisation of the vast majority of Nigerians. For them, it is a cure worse than the disease.

Please get me right, there is nothing peculiar in the experience of socio-economic crisis. Every individual and society are routinely confronted with economic and other standard of living challenges. It is how you grapple with the challenges that matters. It is the extent to which there is closure of the gap between what you say and what you do, that matters. If you are splurging hard- earned Nigeria income on the criminal opulence of the power elite while compelling Nigerians to live on less than one dollar a day, you are increasingly pushing the country to the tipping point.

When you preach the sermon of salvation while indulging in wanton hedonism, the result is the stress and distress written all over the faces of the under-privileged; the permanence of massive security breakdown of law and order with emphasis on the Middle-Belt region. The late Professor Sam Aluko once characterised it as “the rich cannot get to sleep because the poor are hungry and angry.” Unfathomable and profuse nation bleeding corruption has become normalised.

Most hopeless of it all is that rather than agree on requisite constitutional reforms, factions of the rogue elite are deadpan and unyielding, waiting impatiently for their turn at ceasing and bleeding Nigeria by the jugular. The tragic reality stares us all in the face, and its depredations are worse than fiction.

What is your take on the coalition-backed ADC?

Coalition-backed ADC? Well, the ADC emerged from a political movement floated by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2018 called the Coalition of Nigeria Movement. At its transition from a pressure group to a political party, the former president withdrew his participation to preserve his non-partisan statesmanship. He, however, made the exception of the governorship race in Ogun State in 2019, where he backed the aspiration of Nosiru Isiaka.

So this is the history of ADC until it became the beautiful bride of leading opposition figures like Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, and others in this electoral cycle. If these personalities successfully band together and stand behind one of them, then they are in business. It may be reminiscent of the intervention of the APC in 2015.

Do you think the coalition can stop APC and Tinubu in 2027 general election?

This will depend on a number of intervening variables. One is that the economy continues to nosedive with all it connotes for the vast majority of Nigerians. Remember Bob Marley reminded us that a hungry man is an angry man. The other is the difference between former President Goodluck Jonathan and the incumbent president. As Jonathan conceded defeat, you could see a sigh of relief in his mien. He radiated the kind of serenity that bordered on inner joy. It was not just because he had a recessive personality, It was also because his political career is a study in effortless grace.

He did not exert himself to become deputy governor, governor, vice-president, and finally president. The manifestation of this grace was so conspicuous as to make Christiane Amanpour of the Cable Network News, CNN, ask him whether it was down to his unique first name, Goodluck, that had been at play in his rise to the presidency. To the contrary, Tinubu got to his present office by sheer grit and mastery of the political jungle culture of survival of the fittest. He was prepared to realise his objective through means, fair, and foul. Remember the proponent of the political philosophy of “snatch it, grab it and run with it…power is not served a la carte”

What is your assessment of President Bola Tinubu on insecurity, infrastructure, and good governance?

First, I think we need to establish the volume of the debt that has been contracted and the income derived from oil-pursuant to expenditure on capital projects, and what the financial gatekeepers tag cost-benefit analysis. If you borrow ten million dollars to execute a project of one million dollars, this is infrastructure development, but how would you characterise such an expenditure? There is also the question of priorities. Given our huge infrastructure deficit, I do not understand the logic, for instance, of the prioritisation of the thirteen billion dollars Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. It makes sense only if it’s utility is to serve as a conduit for misappropriation of public funds.

Nonetheless, one has to acknowledge the effectiveness of the deregulation of the forex market and the companion downstream sector of the oil economy.

There is however a lot of credibility in the pervasive speculations of massive corruption being perpetuated in the public sector. If morning shows the day, the daylight robbery of gifting one of the most expensive SUVs to national legislators is a marker. My friend and brother, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, is doing his level best, but our security crisis has become a basket case, this inherited crisis is of a magnitude that would readily overwhelm anyone relatively new to that office.

The crisis will likely remain unresponsive to the best of efforts until the security architecture is deconstructed and decentralised. Over and above these assessments is the fact that Nigeria is afflicted with systemic failure.

The meaning of this failure is that no aspect can be successfully isolated for remedial attention. Such is the logic of circularity. There is an integrated linkage between the security aspect and the economic downturn. There is a linkage between infrastructure collapse and the prevailing economic recession and vice versa.Nigeria only stands the chance to succeed in overcoming these challenges when the nature of this national crisis is comprehended as a circular systemic failure-in need of a shock therapy intervention. The kind of therapeutic intervention that compels itself is a constitutional overhaul that gives Nigeria the opportunity for a sociopolitical renewal. There is, of course, the option of a revolutionary intervention with the potential collateral damage of a violent upheaval. There is the inevitability of Jack Kennedy’s admonition that those who make peaceful change impossible makes violent ones inevitable.

Some say that Nigeria is now more divided than ever before. What is your view?

This has become a cliche but it is substantially true. There are micro subnational identity crises spouting all over the place, including the intriguing political decoupling of Hausa-Fulani identification. The Hausa, we are told, are now engaged in a nationalist reawakening against Fulani imperialism. We are told that this is particularly the case with the enduring anarchy in Zamfara state.

Will the agreement to do one term make Atiku or Obi more likely to beat Tinubu?

I’m very sceptical about this kind of political bargaining. In the case of Atiku (a very generous father figure), other than physical debility (he is over 80 years), I have no basis to believe he would stick by any such commitment. If he could repeatedly defy the principle of North/South power rotation, why would a personality of this pedigree stick to any such unenforceable commitment?

With the present political trend, no region, especially the Islamic North, will agree to any such agreement once their man secures the throne.

In my reckoning, the North/South rotation subsists until 2031. Given this notion, the pledge of Obi to restrain himself to a single term is more believable and enforceable. Coincidentally, the putative aspiration by former President Jonathan fits the bill squarely. Even if he is inclined to renege on such a pledge, the constitution completely rules him out of a second term. Besides, I doubt he has the stomach for the roforofo fight inherent in Nigeria political power play.

What is the way forward for the country?

I have earlier reiterated constitutional reform as the way forward in the short, mid, and long-term. I can see no other peaceful options. If we agree in principle for a new constitution, the details will follow in quick order. If only wishes are horses. Given the deep division within, I hope, rather than expect this option to become a reality any time soon. President Tinubu should be the last bus stop on this nightmarish journey to an unknown destination.

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