ATTACKS ON THE ADC

Nick Dazang 

When an incident occurs for the first time, it is taken for a mere happenstance. When it happens again, it is construed as a coincidence. When it occurs a third time, it may be concluded that it is planned and it is deliberate. However, when the incident recurs like a decimal, most people are likely to be concerned.
It is against this backdrop that most observers of our politics are likely to be concerned about the incessant attacks on the African Democratic Congress(ADC). This concern becomes deeper when we consider that with the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) fighting for its life, the ADC remains Nigeria’s foremost opposition political party to the governing All Progressives Congress(APC).

Consider the catalogue of deeply concerning attacks on the ADC in recent times: In August 2025, thugs disrupted an ADC inauguration meeting in Kaduna. In October 2025, thugs set fire to the ADC Secretariat at Ado-Ekiti.

In February 2026, suspected thugs invaded the ADC Secretariat at Benin-City. The invasion took place shortly after its chieftains, led by the former Labour Party(LP) Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and former APC Chairman, Odigie-Oyegun, had left the Secretariat.

Not done, the thugs who were said to have invaded the Secretariat, in a number of vehicles, moved to Chief Oyegun’s residence where some of the ADC bigwigs were meeting. They reportedly took potshots at the gate of the residence and vandalized several cars parked outside.

This month (March), former Minister of Transport, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, was attacked by suspected political thugs. The thugs were alleged to have set the ADC Ward 8 Secretariat at Ubimma Community, Mr. Amaechi’s hometown. They also reportedly fired gunshots at his family compound.

It is instructive that the governing APC has denied complicity in these attacks. And bar the apprehension of one of the perpetrators of the Benin-City attack, who was said to have gloated over his “exploits” on social media, no other arrests have thus far been effected.

More than other stakeholders in the political process, the APC and the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration ought to be troubled by these dastardly and needless attacks. The government’s argument that it is not complicit in the attacks is neither here nor there. Nor will it gain traction with or impress Nigerians.

The APC is the party in power. It behooves it, by dint of our Constitution, to protect and secure all Nigerians, irrespective of their views or political affiliations. And coming at a time when high profile opposition members are defecting, in droves, to the APC, these attacks cast a slur. They present the APC as being intolerant of of those who dare to differ with it. Or that it feels threatened by the opposition.

The ADC may be lampooned and derided for being weak on organization and proactivity. But it is strong in other departments. More than the other opposition parties, its members have been voluble in discussing the state of our nation’s affairs. They have, by so doing, held the Tinubu administration’s feet to the fire.

In the latter sense, the ADC has at least served a high national purpose. Its sometimes vigorous and prolific statements have put the government on its toes. It has also helped to check its excesses. This means that the ADC, and indeed any party of its ilk and vitality, is a worthy adversary. It is, therefore, in the national interest to secure it.

In addition to securing vocal members of the opposition and allowing them to thrive, without let or hindrance, the opposition provides for healthy contestation and clash of ideas.

Democracy itself thrives and flowers under such circumstances. Therefore, those who profess to be true democrats must have the charity and generosity to let the opposition be. Let everyone canvass his position and let Nigerians decide which party is purveying ideas that will best ennoble and move the country forward.

Apart from the governing APC, the Election Management Body(EMB), namely, the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), should be deeply troubled by these attacks. Such attacks can only befoul the environment for the conduct of elections. Besides, there is no way INEC can conduct elections that are free, fair and credible in an atmosphere of violence and wanton attacks.

Recent history should guide us. Shortly before the conduct of the 2022 Anambra State off-cycle Governorship Election, INEC offices were razed in that State and others adjoining it. As that election approached, the violence escalated. Anambra State was akin to a war zone.

The consequence is that ad hoc staff, earlier recruited and trained for the election, scampered for their lives at its eve. Voter turn out in the said election was the most dismal in the annals of that beleaguered State.

Imagine – God forbid – that similar violence, in the manner of the attacks on ADC offices/officials should continue apace and define the 2027 General Elections…Will the elections, in such eventuality, possess any semblance of credibility? Will they be regarded or accepted as free and fair by Nigerians and members of the international community?

In addition to the likelihood of these attacks escalating, and their marring the credibility of the elections, they make it challenging for INEC to provide for all contestants, a level playing field. Yet providing a level playing field for all contestants is not only a cardinal condition precedent to elections, it is one of the Commission’s core values.

It is regrettable that the Commission has not deemed it prudent and necessary to call attention to these reckless acts of thuggery and to task stakeholders to carry themselves with requisite civility and decency.

Even more regrettable is that the security agencies are yet to apprehend the perpetrators of most of these attacks.

 

When, in ugly situations like these, the security agencies look benignly away, they raise suspicion of partiality or compromise. They also encourage impunity: They embolden the perpetrators to visit more violence in the knowledge that they will always go scot-free. Unfortunately, this imperils our elections and the lives of INEC Staff.

At least, if the security agencies can not salvage the environment for the conduct of credible elections, they should not savage it. As the well-worn campaign goes, the perpetrators of these acts of violence “are not spirits”. They should be apprehended and brought to book. The security agencies must act with professionalism. INEC, too, should up its game.