ADC Set For Main Opposition Role, Gets New Secretariat

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is moving fast to displace the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the main opposition party in the country.

The party, which has been making use of the private residence of its national chairman, David Mark, for its official functions, would be unveiling its national secretariat on Monday.

A notice to that effect, put out by the ADC leadership on Sunday, indicated that the party would be moving into a sprawling office building, located in the Wuse II District, Abuja.

The building used to be the presidential campaign headquarters of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar during the 2023 election.

The ADC has been operating from a property owned by a former President of the Senate, Chief David Mark, who is the party’s national chairman.

The property, located at the Apo Legislative Quarters in Abuja, used to be Mark’s official residence during his tenure as President of the Senate from 2007 to 2015.

The erstwhile sleepy fringe party sprang to national reckoning in July this year when some prominent politicians took over the leadership.

The former ADC’s National Working Committee (NWC), led by Ralph Nwosu, had on July 30 relinquished the party’s entire leadership structure to a new set of leaders.

While Mark became national chairman, a former interior minister, Rauf Aregbesola, emerged as national secretary, with Bolaji Abdullahi as national publicity secretary, among others.

The ADC has since filled the void created by the diminishing influence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The party has been coming out strong in its role as a viable opposition, with informed comments and well-researched interventions on the policies of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Atiku is one of the prime movers of the ADC, with an unspecified number of political heavyweights in the APC and other opposition parties speculated to have shown interest in the party.

The ADC is putting its structures in place at a time when the PDP is struggling with internal divisions that have fractured the erstwhile ruling party down the ranks.