The newly formed African Democratic Congress has clarified that Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, and former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, have been exempted from defecting from their current political platforms ahead of the 2027 polls.
The interim National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, confirmed the development in an exclusive phone interview on Wednesday.
His clarification followed a stern warning issued on Tuesday by the interim National Chairman of the ADC, David Mark, who insisted that the party under his watch would brook no form of anti-party activities or indiscipline.
Mark, while addressing members of the party in Abuja, declared that “There will be zero tolerance for anti-party and any form of indiscipline; you are either in ADC or not in ADC. No mid-way in this business, and those not with us, we will not carry them along.
“Those who are not totally committed will not be carried along. We shall reverse our grassroots leadership structures to reflect modern realities from the polling units upwards to the national level. Every organ reenergised.
“We will open the gates for the next generations, our policies, nominations and roles will reflect such.”
The ADC, which was recently adopted as the flagship platform of the opposition coalition, is widely believed to be courting Obi and other influential politicians who have yet to formally declare for the party.
But the camp of the former Anambra State governor dismissed fears over Mark’s warning, insisting that their principal had already clarified his position to the coalition leaders.
The National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Dr Yunusa Tanko, told our correspondent that Obi would not be stampeded into taking any irrational decision.
He said, “Even before we got into the issue of the coalition, our principal has made his position known ab initio, that he is still a Labour man and the coalition that he joined is for 2027.
“Obi actually made that clear when the coalition was at the formation stage. So we don’t see it as anything because we already made our position known right from the beginning.”
When contacted to confirm Tanko’s position, Abdullahi affirmed that both Obi and El-Rufai had been granted a waiver to remain in their legacy parties for now.
