By Uche Diala
*Photo: Peter Obi*
I read the submission by HE Mr. Peter Obi in which he essentially stated his reasons for leaving the ADC.
First, I recognise and respect Mr. Obi’s inalienable right to freedom of association and dissociation, including his freedom to disassociate with the ADC – the same way he freely chose to associate with it. So, this is not me condemning or taking issues with his decision.
As a matter of fact, I associate and identity with most of the sentiments he expressed in his submission, including his desires and wishes for a new Nigeria. Those are actually the same reasons why some of us have remained resolutely engaged inspite of series of disappointments, and personal risks and discomfort.
However, I take issue with some of his assertions. Any leader of the coalition and by extension the ADC could equally allege the same things and use them as excuses to leave.
As a matter of fact, I know one of the leaders who has more reasons to feel disenchanted and disappointed than Mr Peter Obi. He is Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. Having being a key actor, from the very conception of the Coalition movement idea to its metamorphosis into the ADC, unarguably, no other person has suffered more attacks, injustice, and betrayal – both from within and outside – than El-Rufai.
Aside from his prolonged and ongoing unjustifiable incarceration by the powers that be, which every honest person knows is on account of his association with the Coalition and the ADC, as well as the consequential role he has played in it all, Mallam El-Rufai has also suffered some reasonable degrees of discomfort in the hands of the party.
While the party made effort to bend over backwards to accommodate Mr. Obi and his team, I doubt that the same gesture was extended to Mallam El-Rufai and some of the other leaders – definitely not to the same degree.
For instance, the ceeding of the powerful position of National Organising Secretary of the party to the obidient camp was done intentionally to give Mr. Obi a sense of belonging. I am also aware that members of the obidient camp were included as key members of key committees of the party. Same was not accorded to the El-Rufai camp. Indeed, list of names that he (El-Rufai) submitted for inclusion in committees were mostly left unattended.
Furthermore, recently, when the list of membership of National Convention Planning Committees was published, names of people from the El-Rufai camp were conspicuously missing while names from the obidient camp featured prominently. It took calling the attention of the leadership for that to be addressed to some extent.
It is equally worth mentioning that since Mallam El-Rufai was taken into custody on the 16th of February 2026 after he willfully responded to an invitation by the EFCC, and held in custody since then, the party has not paid considerable attention to his plight, in spite of his pivotal role in the party and in spite of the fact that the issues raised against him by the authorities are not issues that would make anyone distance themselves from him. Even non ADC members acknowledge that El-Rufai’s case is purely a case of political persecution.
Yet, in spite of all that, neither Mallam El-Rufai nor his team/camp has complained or sought to leave the party on account of those. They have remained loyal to the party. In fact, in the heat of the shenanigans orchestrated against the party, Mallam’s last communication to me and directive to his team from detention was emphatic – “we remain with the ADC”.
While I respectfully acknowledge Mr. Obi’s right to leave the party, even for the reasons he stated, I dare to say that part of leadership and of being a democrat is one’s ability and willingness to subject oneself to democratic contests and processes – especially intra-party contests and processes – which are fundamental and foundational.
When one engages, associates or participates with a rigid or fixed mindset and with an aggravated sense of entitlement, it calls to question one’s humility, sincerity and ability to be a team player – politics is a team sport.
It equally bears pointing out that from the get-go, the coalition and by extension, the ADC made it clear that its presidential ticket won’t be zoned. Any leader or anyone who has been nursing the ambition or having the expectation that that would change, is either unrealistic or insincere. The coalition leaders, including Mr. Peter Obi himself, equally made commitments to support any one who emerges from a free and transparent primaries. The primaries are yet to be held.
Maybe Mr. Obi’s move is a pre-emptive one to beat the rules which precludes any person who has participated in the Primaries of a political party from taking part in the primaries of another party. I can understand that and that is why I would have preferred that Mr. Obi make his move quietly and leave out the explanations because any of the other leaders could equally make the same excuses.
In addition, the attempt to destabilise the ADC that he referenced is one that commited leaders of the party and the opposition should rather unite and fight together and not to jump ship. Who even says that the same things done to the Labour Party and currently being done to the ADC won’t be visited upon the NDC or whatever other party he chooses to runs to? Such a decision, in my view, ought to be a collective one, if it becomes absolutely necessary and inevitable.
All that said, I wish Mr. Obi luck. More importantly, I wish Nigeria and Nigerians good luck in our collective quest to rid ourselves of the current debilitating situation that we have found ourselves in.
PLEASE NOTE: This my brief submission is not to disparage HE Mr. Peter Obi and I strongly urge anyone who might wish to comment on this post not to disparage him or anyone else for that matter. We can engage without being disrespectful.
#EyesOnTheBall
*Dr Uche Diala Is The Covener Of THE EL-RUFAISTS MOVEMENT