In the run-up to the next general election, a group of opposition politicians, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi and former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, in July, unveiled the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the “coalition party” for the 2027 general election. Since, the unveiling, the ADC, which has become energized has had its gaze on the 2027 polls.

Founding National Chairman of the ADC, Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu, in this interview, noted that, with the coalition, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) does not stand any chance in the next presidential election. Nwosu also spoke on the state of the nation after 65 years of independence, amongst other issues.

The country marked 65 years of independence recently. How would you assess the state of the nation since independence, particularly the 26 years of the present democratic dispensation?

Considering the passion of the founding fathers; considering their vision for the country, the way we started within the first few years, one would have expected that this county would have grown to become one of the strongest countries in the world. But considering where we are now; there is not much to write home about.

However, if at this time, we have come to the realisation, reawakening, it is still okay. For any country, organisation, or even individual that has been so reckless, there has to be that time of some form of reawakening and so on. A lot has gone bad for the country. But instead of dwelling on the past and the situation we have faced; I am a very optimistic person, I will say that it appears that most people have realised that we have all gone astray and the need for us to now refocus. And that realignment is beginning to come. That is the hope, we have.

The only hope I see now is what is happening with the coalition. But on all the other fronts, we have done very badly. The over 10 years of APC leadership has taken us back. And we are operating like a people without vision. Recently, when the president took over, he started with this mantra “Renewed Hope”, Renewed Hope to where. Renewed Hope with what? Renewed Hope when there are no plans. Where there is no coalition building. Where people in government don’t seem to agree on the path to follow. Where is the Renewed Hope?

Where a lot of countries making progress are operating on visions. Saudi Arabia, they have Vision 2030. They are already accomplishing some of the critical milestone they put for themselves. Same with all other nations. But Nigeria is down and there is no vision of where the leaders are taking the country, since 1999. It was only Yar’Adua, he spoke on Vision 2020. Other than Yar’Adua, who pronounced that and laid the template to pursue, before his health took a dramatic turn, we don’t have that.

But almost 11 years now of APC being in charge, where are we going? Renewed Hope to where? Where is the vision? Where do you want to see Nigeria in another 20 years, so that by the time you finished your four years, we see the milestones and the pillars you put down, are leading towards where we are heading to in that 20 years. None. You don’t look for development in a dark alley.

So, it has been hopelessness, in spite of the fact that the Tinubu government says it is Renewed Hope, it has been hopelessness. However, the only thing that gives any form of hope is the coalition that stakeholders and patriots are putting together.

Talking about the coalition, a lot of persons have said that it would have been better if it was political parties that are coming together to form a coalition, rather than individuals, like what obtained in 2013 when the major opposition parties came together to form a coalition which defeated the then ruling party. In the absence of other opposition political parties, do you think the coalition will thrive?

There was an engineering process. The architecture of the design of the work was done by the ADC. If you recall, in 2018, President Obasanjo put together a coalition of different civil society and politicians, with the name CNM-Coalition for Nigeria Movement. After they formed that coalition, they did their due diligence, because they wanted to empty that into one party. After the due diligence, it was ADC that they finally tried to empty that group into.

So, we have always prepared ourselves. We have always known that the best way to get our country working is through a major coalition. After the first election we ran in 2007, when we put Pat Utomi forward as our candidate, after that election, we sat with Pat Utomi to say we can’t do this election like this again, we must bring together different parties and we started the process.

There was a time the ADC headed the Coalition for New Nigeria -the ADC was there; Labour Party was there. The idea was to bring together all the other smaller parties. But we did not succeed in doing that; because some parties are set up by some individuals or stakeholders and you don’t even know who controls those parties until you make a strong proposition. So, we were not able to bring parties together.

Now, what has happened, we have always been ready, looking for how to build this coalition. We took time, when we were on our own to assemble the party Into some core values and also came up with principles that will ensure that we are able to champion transformation in the country. That is why ADC is now a party that is driving transformation.

So, in building coalitions, we don’t need those strong parties. The people we need are people who will share in the values. Because most of those parties have already cast their system In stone, you can’t change them. And the indiscipline in those parties will drive anything you want to do under.

So, what we did, because we already have things on ground, the architecture is there. What you may call the compass and the dashboard, where we want to take the country to, how we will do it, is already there. So, you need more of individuals; because what we lacked in championing and taking us forward was resources. The idea is there. The values are there. What we have done is the best way to go.

Unlike parties that are coming together, and all that is about is to grab power. Just like APC grabbed power and going to 11 years now, what have they done with the power, nothing.

What we have done is good. There is a lot more going on that people have not seen. The alignment. The process. Some of the processes that we are designing, people have not seen that before. So, it may not be appealing to them. Why would we want to repeat the same thing APC did? We must not repeat that.

If you repeat that, why do you want to beat APC? You can see what happened with Labour? Labour is not a coalition of different parties, a few stakeholders moved in and they began. And these stakeholders, majorly Peter Obi, Pat Utomi and a few others. In this case, these stakeholders have moved in and you can see the kind of structure that we are designing. It is not such that if you win election, it will be snatched or grabbed from you, just like happened the last time.

We are building a structure that will become a major movement. Nigerians will believe in it. And we are also assuring them that the kind of leadership in place and what we have built, it is not an election that can be stolen. The people’s mandate can never be stolen.

So, the APC model does not fit what we are doing. The APC model is about people who want power and they are collapsing other parties, and that is the trouble they are facing with governance.

By the time we start bringing our programmes you will see that whatsoever doubt anybody has will be cleared. We know what we are doing.

A lot of persons have expressed fears that if the opposition is fragmented in the next election, they will become so decimated and cannot stand the ruling APC

Let me ask you. Is there anything like PDP again? Who are the members of PDP. Wike, Makinde. These are the leaders who are dictating the pace in PDP and so on. Do you think that they are campaigning to defeat Tinubu? What we have more or less, PDP has also joined that old franchise. Nigerians say what they have now is APDP. That is what APC and PDP have merged to become. There is no more PDP.

Now, the biggest political party that has come to be is the ADC. The ADC has become the people’s party. We have some critical stakeholders. Strong stakeholders who give confidence in a way.

You are so confident about the ADC doing so well in the 2027 polls. What gives you this confidence?

Before the formation of the ADC, some polls have been done. And it was clear that if this coalition is done and some individuals come into the ADC, it would be the strongest organisation in Nigeria. That is one. And then assuming we are going to have a free and fair election, the next president that will be elected under the ADC, will have more than 80 per cent of the vote. I can assure you.

You ask, how many people in Nigeria are happy? Whether you are a journalist, or a truck pusher, how many people are happy? Who will vote for these people? A government that fuel price was N150 and just, without warning, within a week, was moved to N900 and something, almost a thousand naira. No warning.

A government that Is asking the citizens tighten your belt. Tighten your belt. But living in luxury. Buying yachts and aircraft. The President always goes overseas for medicals. Meanwhile, no such institutions are built in Nigeria. Buhari was in and out of hospitals in Europe for almost more than half of his tenure and Tinubu is doing the same thing. Holidaying. Going to different hospitals and working from France and so on.

Then, the National Assembly feeding fat. Meanwhile, there are a lot of families who cannot pay their bills in the general hospitals. Who will vote for these people? They say they are constructing the coastal highway, which was billed for 15 something trillion originally. Now, it is gone up. I think it has gone to 27 something trillion. When will that road be completed and justify that money? When the road leading to Abuja, Lagos to other towns, where we have heavy traffic on daily basis are like death traps.

You are talking almost ten times the cost to do those roads, to go and do a coastal road, that you may not finish in 20 years and people may not begin to use. What sense is that? Because they want to make enough money to be able to bribe all of us, during the next election. I hear they are ready to pay N100,000 for each vote.

By the time we finish our movement, you know what will happen? When you take that kind of money to go and give to anybody, they will call you ole! (thief!)

Why do I have so much confidence in the coalition that has been built? It is largely owned by Nigerians. And it is only through that coalition that they will diffuse the corruption and everything these people are banking on. They don’t have anything to campaign on. They don’t have nothing to campaign on. All their statistics are faulty. They tell you that things are getting better. But the indicators- go to hospital, see the number of deaths. Go to our roads, see the number of deaths. Go to the farms; see the number of attacks and deaths. Check the insecurity indices. The country almost completely destroyed.

What they are trying to do- they know that they cannot be voted for. And the idea was to clamp down on all the parties. They already know. That was why they decided to clamp down on all the parties. Labour party they thought will pose any form of problem. PDP, they thought this is the biggest challenge we have, they clamp down on them. The other parties they have relationship with, all along. So, they thought we have clamped down on these parties, not knowing that the ADC is also planning; not just to win one governorship, but to win the Presidency and save the entire country.

The Electoral Act,’as it is now, does it give hope for free and fair election in 2027? If it does not, what are those changes you will like to see in the Electoral Act before the next election?

I don’t think so much of the Electoral Act. That is why we are building a movement. Electoral Act amendment, who will amend it? The Senate? So, there is no need of flogging a dead horse from that side.

The Issue now is creating more awareness for Nigerians. For the first time, we want to pull out Nigerians as much as possible. By the time over 40 million Nigerians will come out to vote and where they are going is clear. Let us see, by the time, out of this 40 million, the ADC is having over 82 to 88 per cent of it, let us see who can change that result. Nobody can.

So, waste no time with the National Assembly. Spend time mobilising the people. Spend time creating awareness. Any law that this National Assembly will create will be defective. It is just a rubber stamp place for Mr President. Our concentration is building a coalition that will unseat the entire structure, starting from the Presidency.

After many years in the saddle as founding national chairman of the ADC, you stepped down following the adoption of the party as coalition party by some opposition politicians. How does it feel being just a member of the party you founded?

National Chairman is not my name and was never meant to replace my name. I am Nwosu. Simple. From the date we founded this party, for me it has been work, work, work and investing personal resources to build an endearing and enduring political party that will champion the transformation of Nigeria and play a significant role in shaping the future of Africa. I have never acted beyond the role of a passionate member, who wants the party to arrive at the destination envisioned.

Chairman is a title and I have never been a title person. Positional authority does not make anyone a leader in the true sense. I decided to be a floor member. From this point, I believe I can inspire many, especially the younger ones desiring a life in the public service space with a new way of being, thinking and leading. So, I am very happy that we are making progress and I will try my best to help build a new class of leaders taking from the ADC success story. Leadership built on vision, integrity and selflessness.

The current political space in the country is rotten and cannot be relied on to shape the culture of leadership. It is full of opportunists and self-serving megalomaniacs. Most of the persons in government lack the integrity and the public service spirit to be in that space. The culture in place damages the foundation, the very root of our being. This is not about the President alone. It looks like a deeply engrained tradition that those who are in positional authority to lead are above the law and must corruptly enrich themselves and act as if they own the treasury and the entire national estate.

Change and national redemption require personal examples. Discipline, emotional equity and endearing habits of the mind, heart, soul and character are critical to leadership success. The economics, defence, engineering and accounting are secondary. With the kind of coalition we have built, it is not power or title that is required to navigate to the finish line. We need community of leaders with the soft skills, emotional quotient and integrity. For the wonderful outpouring of goodwill from Nigerians for my steadfastness, resilience and personal sacrifices, it is a very humbling experience. From all parts of Nigeria, I still get calls or stopped at the airports or restaurants by persons wanting to felicitate me, take pictures; I even receive more well-wishers and visitors now than ever before. I cannot but use the positive energy to impact the young ones and drive for paradigm shift in leadership as we know it today in Nigeria.

The way I conduct my affairs henceforth is important to raising a new generation of leaders for the country. The fact that resilience, planning forward, making sacrifices and having a large frame of mind and heart and habits that think and act in collective interest are ennobling and should be modelled for the betterment of the society. This is a tall order and at this stage cannot be overemphasised. (The Sun)