Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has described the newly formed All Democratic Alliance (ADA) as a joke which lacks political weight to trouble the ruling party.

He said it is not a coalition of political forces and cannot be regarded as a merger.

Keyamo made the remarks in a post on his X page while reacting to the move by opposition leaders to register the party with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

ADA is being promoted by the Nigerian National Coalition Group (NNCG) and backed by key opposition figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai.

The application for the registration of the party, dated June 19, was addressed to the INEC chairman and co-signed by Akin Ricketts as national chairman and Abdullahi Musa Elayo as pro-tem national secretary.

Reacting to the development, Keyamo said the move is a failed attempt to recreate the 2013 coalition that led to the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said the promoters of the party are creating unnecessary hype and attempting to mislead Nigerians.

“This is just a simple application for party registration. There is nothing like a ‘coalition’ here,” Keyamo wrote.

According to him, “It is an unnecessary hype the promoters have been struggling to create all along. It is just psychological warfare against Nigerians and a weak attempt at mass appeal.”

He stated that no recognised political party is part of the movement, adding that describing it as a coalition or merger is misleading.

“If they are thinking of recreating what the APC did in 2013, then this is nothing but a pedestrian joke. A complete mockery of that seismic political coalition that birthed the APC in 2013,” he said.

The ADA effort, the minister noted, is no different from the many political associations that spring up regularly with similar intentions.

“After all the razzmatazz, it boils down to the fact that a new political party is just attempting registration by a few Nigerians. It is a disappointing anti-climax to all the preceding pomp and pageantry,” he added.

The APC was formed In 2013 following the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a breakaway faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP).

The alliance presented Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate and went on to defeat the PDP in the 2015 general elections. (Weekend Trust)