The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has announced plans to petition regional and international bodies over what it described as coordinated attacks on its members across the country.
It alleged that the assaults have become a recurring pattern, particularly in states governed by the All Progressives Congress (APC), suggesting a deliberate effort to intimidate the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Speaking with Sunday Punch, the ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, accused the ruling APC of “systematically undermining democracy” and “laying the groundwork for a violent electoral process in 2027.”
“We will send petitions to relevant international missions, starting with the ECOWAS Court,” Abdullahi said. “The international community must pay attention to how the APC is suppressing opposition and weakening democracy in Nigeria.”
The ADC has reported a series of violent incidents targeting its members and offices in Kaduna, Ekiti, Ogun, and Lagos states.
On August 30, a meeting of the ADC in Kaduna, attended by former governor Nasir El-Rufai, was reportedly disrupted by armed thugs, leaving several members injured. El-Rufai condemned the attack, calling it “a dangerous descent into lawlessness.”
Similarly, the party’s secretariat in Ekiti State was set ablaze in the early hours of last Tuesday, shortly before the inauguration of its state executive. Hoodlums allegedly stormed the venue, vandalising vehicles and attacking members.
The ADC National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, who was billed to attend the event, described the incident as “a shameful display of intolerance and a threat to political pluralism.”
In Lagos, the party claimed that its rally at Lion Field, Alimosho — organised to welcome Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the ADC’s Lagos governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour — was violently disrupted by hoodlums.
Earlier in August, the Ogun State chapter of the ADC also accused the police of disrupting its campaign rally in Sagamu ahead of the Remo Federal Constituency by-election on August 16.
According to Abdullahi, the growing trend of attacks suggests a broader agenda to weaken the ADC’s presence nationwide.
“These attacks are becoming routine in APC-controlled states,” he said. “It appears there is a deliberate plan to intimidate our members and prevent our party from gaining ground.”
Abdullahi referenced a recent Canadian court judgment that reportedly classified both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as terrorist organisations, arguing that the latest wave of violence only reinforces that perception.
“Democracy is under siege under the APC. What they are doing to our members shows a complete intolerance for opposition and a willingness to win by any means necessary,” he added.
However, the North-Central Chairman of the APC Forum, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, dismissed the allegations, describing them as baseless and politically motivated.
Zazzaga said the APC had no hand in any of the incidents and urged the ADC to “look inward,” claiming that some of its leaders had a history of using thugs for political purposes.
“We don’t use thugs in the APC; we encourage education, not violence,” he said. “If the ADC claims we are trying to stop their growth, they should ask themselves why Nigerians are not joining them. Their records speak for themselves.”
