Why Nigerians Don’t Trust Politicians – ADC Spokesman

The National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, has said that Nigerians don’t trust the nation’s politicians because they don’t play politics with integrity.

Abdullahi questioned the style of many of the long-serving politicians in the country, saying that they have spent decades operating within what he described as a flawed political system.

The ADC spokesman, who made the assertion on Thursday in Abuja, said it’s unfortunate that the political class is unwilling to embrace reforms that would connect them with the Nigerian people.

“We are in the kind of mess we are in because of the kind of politics we have played over the years. And if we are going to get out of it, it will also depend on the kind of politics we play going forward,” he said.

“People who have done this for 30, 40 or 50 years, can you suddenly begin to teach them something they have never believed in? The answer is no,” he said.

Further lamenting what he described as the collapse of integrity in Nigerian politics, Abdullahi argued that politicians had become objects of public distrust.

“We have allowed politics to be given a bad name. When you introduce yourself as a politician, people immediately become suspicious of you,” he stated.

Abdullahi compared politicians unfavourably to armed robbers, saying criminal gangs appeared to display greater loyalty and discipline.

“I actually want to think that armed robbers think they are more honourable than politicians. Because if a gang of armed robbers agreed to go and burgle a place at 4pm, no one among them would go there at 3:30pm

‘But politicians can say we have a meeting at 4 o’clock and they would have held that meeting at 2 o’clock,” he said.

The former Sports Minister warned that the country’s future depends on embracing a new style of leadership driven by younger generations.

He slammed the political class for failing to build public and democratic institutions, nurture ethical leadership, or prepare a successor generation capable of transforming the country.

The ADC stalwart described the party as the future of Nigerian politics, insisting that it was founded on ethics and the principles of internal democracy.

“I have no doubt in my mind that the only thing holding the APC together today is power. When you take government power out of APC, you don’t have a political party,” he said.

According to him, the ADC remains “the only political party whose identity is bigger than any single individual.”

He, however, warned that even if the ADC wins power in 2027, the party must avoid abandoning the ideals upon which it was built.

“There is a way power distracts from real issues. If we win in 2027, are we going to abandon the work we have started to build a formidable political party? That depends on what people agree to do going forward,” he added.

Abdullahi also challenged young Nigerians to stop seeing age as a qualification for leadership, urging them instead to focus on impact and legacy.

“Age is not a credential. A birth certificate is not a credential. It is the work we do going forward that will determine our place in the history of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

Referencing Nigeria’s foremost nationalist leaders, including Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo, Abdullahi noted that many of them attained historic relevance at relatively young ages.

He urged Nigerian youth not to underestimate their capacity to shape the country’s future, describing history as “a blank slate” waiting to be written.
“You can write yourself into those chapters,” he said.