Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has declared that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is positioning itself to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and take control of Aso Rock in the 2027 general election. Oyegun made the assertion while addressing delegates at the party’s national convention in Abuja. He expressed confidence in the ADC’s preparedness to assume leadership at the centre.

“We are ready to take over Aso Rock, and it is not going to be business as usual,” Oyegun said. “I want everybody to know that because they keep accusing us that John, you were part of them.” The former Edo State governor lamented the paradox of Nigeria’s vast natural endowments and the persistent hardship faced by citizens. He described the situation as a failure of leadership over the years.

“We are the largest black nation on the face of this earth. God designed that for a purpose, but see what we have done to it,” he said. He added that the ADC leadership inspires renewed hope for change, stressing that the party is ready to embark on what he described as a national rescue mission.

“And so I am so thrilled when I look at our chairman and I look at the leaders around him, and I say, ‘Thank God we are ready for this struggle, and thank God we are ready to move,’” he stated. Reiterating the party’s readiness to govern, Oyegun pledged that an ADC-led administration would prioritise accountability and enforce consequences for misconduct in public office. “So let us go into this fight, let us go into this struggle, not looking at the past but deciding that from the day we come into office, every person’s action must have a consequence,” he said.

“You do well, you are rewarded; you do badly, the whole world must know that you have done badly”, he said. Drawing a biblical analogy to buttress his point on leadership transformation, Oyegun said: “Look at the Christian faith. When God wanted to plant Christianity, whom did he take?

It was Paul, the greatest prosecutor of Christians, who was the person that he chose.” He sounded a note of optimism, insisting that the party is already on course to assume power at the federal level. “I want to assure you that we are already en route to the Villa, and may God give us the courage to do what is necessary to salvage this long-suffering nation,” he added. Earlier in his remarks, the National Secretary of the ADC, Rauf Aregbesola, took a swipe at the Tinubu administration, describing its “Renewed Hope” agenda as a “scam.” According to Aregbesola, many of the promises made by the current administration have yet to materialise nearly three years into its tenure, raising concerns about governance and delivery.