Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has dismissed the newly unveiled All Democratic Alliance (ADA) as lacking the political strength to pose any real challenge to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Reacting to the formation of the ADA via a post on his official X account, Keyamo argued that the party does not represent a genuine coalition of political forces and should not be mistaken for a merger.
The ADA, which is being championed by the Nigerian National Coalition Group (NNCG), has the support of prominent opposition figures such as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
An application for the party’s registration, dated June 19, was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The document was signed by Akin Ricketts, listed as the national chairman, and Abdullahi Musa Elayo, the pro-tem national secretary.
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Keyamo described the move as an unsuccessful attempt to replicate the coalition that led to the creation of the APC in 2013.
“This is just a simple application for party registration. There is nothing like a ‘coalition’ here,” Keyamo wrote on X.
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 emphasized that no established political party has aligned itself with the ADA initiative, warning that portraying the development 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 aviation minister likened ADA’s formation to other frequent political associations that surface with similar ambitions but often fail to gain traction.
“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 came into existence in 2013 through a merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a splinter group from the Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP). The alliance propelled Muhammadu Buhari to victory in the 2015 presidential election, ending the PDP’s 16-year rule.