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00:00With 2027 fast approaching, the African Democratic Congress is tearing the waters with a bold coalition strategy that could rattle Nigeria's political status quo.
00:10What's really behind this move? We will be finding out in the course of the show.
00:23Joining us to break this all down is an architect and political analyst, Ezekiel Nyaitok.
00:29I mean, we're looking at ADC coalition and what it implies for 2027 elections.
00:35So first thing first, what exactly is the goal of the African Democratic Congress coalition ahead of 2027?
00:43And how broad is its reach across political blocs?
00:51I think that there is a major, I don't know how this is going to affect your interview.
00:57There is a major misunderstanding.
01:01Okay.
01:02That misunderstanding is thinking that I'm in ADC.
01:05Okay.
01:07I'm not.
01:08Okay.
01:09I was in ADC.
01:11I contested under the platform of the ADC.
01:14I was literally the face of ADC.
01:17Okay.
01:17I brought the presidential candidate of ADC, the vice presidential candidate, Mr. Mahalu, Professor Mahalu, and I brought them all into ADC.
01:28They are all my friends.
01:29And when I was contesting there, they all came in there.
01:34So I've been in ADC.
01:36And then I got this appointment from Mr. President as a member of ADC.
01:42I never left ADC.
01:44And that was in February last year.
01:48And I remained in ADC up till July last year.
01:54And then it just occurred to me, I felt that it was not wise for me to remain in the ADC.
02:04As a result, I resigned my membership of the party, formally and officially, and remained political, so to speak, so as to face the responsibility that I was given by Mr. President.
02:24So, but in December, almost a year after, I made up my mind and joined the APC.
02:32Oh, okay.
02:33So, here we are.
02:37I don't know how your questions are going to shape.
02:40No, it's fine.
02:41It's still within the political parties.
02:44I mean, it's still in the landscape.
02:47Okay.
02:48So, I'm sure you know that ADC, like you said, it's been existing before and then they collapsed it for the coalition strategy.
02:56Okay.
02:57So, is this coalition simply about winning elections or is there a deeper ideological alignment at play?
03:05In the first instance, I will tell you this.
03:09I'm very worried, very, very worried because I'm a Nigerian.
03:13And though Mr. President gave me disappointment, the first thing is that he didn't give it to me as a politician.
03:20That's why he didn't bother that I was in ADC.
03:23I was the face of ADC.
03:24You know, he gave it to me because he believed that I have something to offer in the housing subsector.
03:34So, to that extent, I joined the ADC because I saw something really out of the conventional.
03:44I liked the ADC.
03:46They had what you call the ADC DNA.
03:50And that's what attracted me.
03:52And that was like, you know what a DNA is to a human being, the composition that makes the you that you are.
03:59Your qualities, your attributes, your characteristics, your personality, all those things are embedded in your DNA.
04:07And the ADC DNA was what I've been looking for.
04:12You know, talking about virtue, talking about focus, talking about nationalism, talking about professionalism, talking about excellence.
04:20Those were the constituents of the ADC DNA.
04:24And that's what attracted me.
04:25Now, what makes me very uncomfortable now is that what I've seen in the coalition goes diametrically opposed to those fundamentals, to those principles.
04:39And you ask yourself, who is the face?
04:45Who are the faces of ADC?
04:47What's the ideology?
04:48And the people I'm seeing there, God help me, are definitely not the people that would be the face of the new Nigeria that we are all clamoring for.
05:00They are definitely not the face of what we had anticipated.
05:05So, the whole ADC has become a platform, a tool for getting political power and not the sort of thing that Nigeria is looking for as at this moment.
05:19All right.
05:20Now, let's look at this coalition plan.
05:23How does this coalition plan to distinguish itself, how will it distinguish itself from the traditional powerhouses like PDP, APC?
05:31Do you think there's something really different about this coalition strategy?
05:37There was something different about ADC as a party, but there is nothing different from ADC as a coalition, as presently constituted.
05:51You know, I would have, you know, it's unfortunate.
05:55Sometimes I think that, you know, you have a good opportunity and you throw it away.
06:03A good opportunity in the sense that ADC was a party that could be respected.
06:09That's why people like me went there.
06:11So, and in the coalition, you know, before I joined ADC, while I was still in ADC and things like that, we tried to form what we call Summit of the Alternative.
06:27You know, where we had the likes of CDC, you know, Madam Obie, you know, and, you know, you told me there are lots of people that were like the alternative to what we had.
06:45You know, we had the summit of the alternatives and we had very clear-cut principles on who should be our partners for now so that we form it.
06:54And then, you know, in politics, you can't keep others away, but they will come thereafter.
06:59So the face of the Summit of the Alternatives had to do with, you know, people with integrity, people with credibility, people that Nigerians could look at and say, yes, I like this.
07:11You know, one of the things that we miss is the fact that, you know, there are, you know, two camps.
07:18There's a camp of the politicians, and there's a camp of the citizens.
07:26There are two camps because the citizens give power.
07:30The politicians collect power.
07:33And within that context, now this is like a triangle, you know, you know, a balanced triangle.
07:40It has a tip at the top, and it expands, and then it has a flat base.
07:45So you have one, two, and the tip that make the triangle.
07:49Now, at the top of that triangle is the citizen.
07:53They sit on top.
07:54At the bottom is the politician, left and right, those in power and those in opposition.
08:02That's what it is, and you should never mix the two, okay?
08:05So when I hear them say, oh, 2027 is about Mr. President and the people, I say, no, that is fallacy.
08:16That is politicians trying to come through the back door to get power from the people.
08:23No, 2027 is about the people and the politicians in power and out of power.
08:31Do you understand me?
08:33In power and opposition.
08:35So that the two of them should be looking up to the people.
08:38Those in power should be telling the people why they should be retained.
08:42And those in opposition should be telling the people why they should be preferred.
08:46So as at today, the opposition seems to be, let me just do a mix of what you call ADC, labor, and PDP.
08:55And then those in power is APC.
08:57Now, PDP, labor, APC cannot put themselves with the people.
09:04No, they are not with the people.
09:06They are alone here.
09:07Then the people in power are alone here.
09:09They are both looking up to the people.
09:12And those of us that are in APC have to tell the people why we must be reelected.
09:20And those in opposition have to tell the people why they should be elected.
09:26So both parties must be looking up to the people.
09:31And that is the point I always think that we need to bring up here.
09:36So to that extent, what I've seen in APC as presently constituted between you and I
09:44will not make that average Nigerian to say, take it from this and give it to this, you know,
09:53because the people decide to either leave it with the opposition or take it from the opposition
09:58and give it or leave it with those in power, incumbents, or take it from those in power and
10:03give it to the opposition.
10:05The question that Nigerians must ask themselves today is that, what will be my reason to take
10:12it from APC and give it to ADC?
10:15ADC has to give them that reason.
10:17Without, but ADC is to just think that, oh, people are suffering.
10:20People are suffering is not a political manifesto.
10:24So ADC cannot give you people are suffering as what they are bringing to the table.
10:37People know they are suffering.
10:39Okay.
10:40So those of us in APC, we have a big duty, a burden to let the people know what we are
10:49doing, why we are doing what we are doing, and why they are better off with us.
10:54We must never take the people for granted.
10:56Then those in opposition cannot say, oh, they are bad.
11:00They are bad.
11:01The fact that one man is a thief does not make you a saint.
11:04You could be two thieves.
11:06Okay.
11:06So sell yourself that this is who we are.
11:10We are different.
11:12We have a different ideology.
11:14We have superior manifesto.
11:17You can look at us.
11:18We have both the manifesto and the personnel to be able to go see it through.
11:25When you are able to convince the people, then the people, you know, will now want to
11:30take it from APC and give it to them.
11:32But as of today, number one, what is their manifesto?
11:35I don't know.
11:35People are suffering.
11:37Okay.
11:37It doesn't make sense.
11:38Number two, who are the people that are driving the process?
11:41And that is what really kind of makes me very sad because I would like to see a vibrant
11:46opposition.
11:47Do you understand me?
11:48That makes our democracy to be more interesting and it also puts us on our toes.
11:54But what I'm seeing here, it's nothing that will make me shake as an individual because
12:02who are the people that are the face of the opposition?
12:05So, meaning that the ADC don't have enough or strong profile to make other political parties rattle?
12:18You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you as a journalist, ask yourself, since they started talking, what comes up in your mind as their manifesto?
12:29You can't.
12:31You can't think of one thing they've told you.
12:33You can't.
12:34Just think now, one thing they have said, this distinguishes us.
12:40This makes us different.
12:41This is what we want to do.
12:43You can't.
12:44You can't.
12:45Even as a journalist.
12:46And that's very sad.
12:48You are coming to take power from people in power.
12:51And they just believe that once you say, people are hungry, quality, people are hungry, people are hungry.
12:57People are hungry is not a manifesto.
13:00Tell me something you are bringing to the table that will make the average Nigerian number two.
13:07We can look and say, oh, we like Pat who told me, he is a professor who told me, he is this, he's that.
13:15Oh, we like this person.
13:16Oh, we like Madame Obieze Kocili.
13:18Oh, we like these incorruptible people.
13:20These are very, very good professionals.
13:22These are the face of ADC.
13:24We want to go with them.
13:26We like the likes of the fellow Durotoye.
13:28These are the people that have come back together to form and give us a new Nigeria.
13:33We like them.
13:34But none of those people is featuring in this coalition.
13:39What you have is all politicians who came to where we are today,
13:45who feel they have been left in the cold for too long and they would like to come back and become relevant and be useful again.
13:53And then they think that just by telling you, oh, people are hungry, you know,
13:57they want to take advantage of the vulnerability of Nigerians.
14:01Some of us have come into ADC and we are going to start to tell the people, look,
14:05I have to tell you what we have to do in the area of housing.
14:07We in ADC, in APC must put ourselves together and tell the people, we must never take the people for granted.
14:15But people are hungry.
14:17It's not going to be what you want to work on.
14:19The sentiment of the people and collect power and just so that they can come back and be back in power while deceiving the people.
14:27Can PDP reposition itself as a viable national alternative in all of this, in 2027 amidst this rising defections and internal factional dispute as we speak?
14:43PDP has buried itself, unfortunately.
14:47I started with the PDP.
14:49I contested in 2007 and I contested on the platform of the PDP.
14:54Somewhere along that time or just before then, I was the chairman for the World and Local Government Congress Committee of the PDP, the one of the states.
15:04And that's about the most important position you can hold in a party because then you go to set up the structure of the party in that state.
15:12I was.
15:13But you see, PDP had this level of arrogance that nothing could happen.
15:20They even boasted they will be in power for 60 years and things like that.
15:25When you are in power, you must be careful not to become so arrogant that you think nothing can happen.
15:34In politics, there's nothing like nothing.
15:36So that is why in APC today, it's just without even thinking twice, you can see that the path to success is very, very straight.
15:46But we must never, never take anything for granted.
15:52That is why internally there was a meeting we had and Mr. President gave a marching order.
15:57He said very clearly that the opposition does a marathon, but those in power, they do a dash for election.
16:08What does that mean?
16:09It means that while opposition is doing what they are doing, we must be careful to continue on governance, continue on governance, concentrate on your work, don't get distracted, do your work till the time to do a dash.
16:23Do you understand me?
16:24Now, that time allows you to be able to show the workings that you've done over the period so that you are going to campaign on the platform of what you can show as your scorecard.
16:37Do you understand me?
16:39And I liked that when I heard that because it means then that you are not taking the people for granted.
16:44So we that are public office holders in PDP, in APC, we have been asked to make sure that we continue working and working and working till the end of this year, to next year, to primaries, so that when we start to do campaign, for instance, in housing,
17:01I happen to be in housing because of my position as an executive director with the Federal Housing Authority, in housing, we want campaign to be cutting tips of estates.
17:15Each state, the president comes, at least in 20 states, want his campaign to be cutting tips of housing.
17:24That's a good campaign.
17:25And I think the opposition is very largely underestimating what the current, maybe I'm letting some cut out of the bag, but I want to tell you that from December, I've said that, I said that, I think it was one of the big stations.
17:43You know, I'll tell you from December, January, you are going to start to see things change because right now, it's been like laying foundations, it's been like going through the hardest part.
17:58So it can never get worse in Nigeria.
18:01It can only get better.
18:02Let me give you a very simple example.
18:04I was on Naira per dollar, you know, Naira per dollar, yes.
18:12But gradually, it's finding its way back very slowly.
18:17How about fuel?
18:19You know that we bought fuel at 1,200 in this country, formally and officially.
18:25But you know that gradually, it's coming down.
18:28And as at some days back, the Dangote refinery even said they were bringing down the price again.
18:33So by the time we get to January, by December, by the grace of God, many things are going to be stabilizing.
18:40And then people will start to feel the effect of even the tax reforms that we are doing, the law.
18:47By towards the end of this year, people are going to see the difference.
18:51So we have a precedent that, for once, we have a precedent that is thinking and is making hard decisions.
18:59Hard decisions.
19:01Okay, architect Ezekiel.
19:03So, finally, what message does this coalition, right, send to Nigerian voters, especially the youth and politically disillusioned, pardon me this?
19:18You know, the message they are sending is the message that we are the same, we are not different, because they are not speaking.
19:27They are not saying anything.
19:29And they are making life a little easier for us.
19:31I wanted a hard puncher.
19:33Do you understand me?
19:34To put me on my toes.
19:36But now I'm getting on my toes, not because of, you know, the fear of the opposition, but I would say moral conscience, you're giving a job to do the job.
19:46So the opposition, they are not telling you their manifesto.
19:49They are not giving you incorruptible people.
19:52They are not showing you something different from the others.
19:55They are just telling you that all they want is that they have been out of power for too long.
19:59They want to come back to power.
20:01And that's what Nigerians need.
20:03Nigerians need APC to step up and say, I feel your pain.
20:08And this is what we are doing.
20:09So they are making APC to sleep, but we will not sleep.
20:14Rather, we'll continue to work.
20:16It's been difficult.
20:17I will say that because this is a network that goes international.
20:21But I want to tell you there's a definite roadmap and a plan that Mr. President has.
20:27And we owe it to Nigerians to communicate.
20:30That's one thing I have against my party, APC.
20:33We're not communicating enough to Nigerians.
20:36And it seems to be taking people for granted.
20:38The time has come when we come and start explaining to the people, you know, on a daily.
20:44I want to be able to see my minister of information, having a weekly program of briefing the people, what's going on, why this is so.
20:53Let me just end on an illustration I like to give.
20:57You have two people.
20:58We have two people.
21:00A man is building a three bedroom bungalow.
21:03Okay.
21:04Another man is building and, you know, like a 10 story building.
21:07Now, by the time that three months have gone, the man that was building a three bedroom bungalow has finished building his house.
21:16Within four months, he's doing the finishings.
21:18In the fifth month, he's moving in.
21:21Meanwhile, the man that was doing a 10 story building is still piling.
21:26After four months, there's nothing you are seeing.
21:29So the man on the street is likely to say, these guys are useless.
21:33Look at the other people.
21:34They are living in their house.
21:35These other people, all we are seeing is just boom, boom, boom.
21:39What's going on?
21:40But if those people, as a result, before you can explain yourself, your time, the people will just write you off and move on.
21:46But if you had come to tell the people, the land that we have is very small.
21:52So if we build a three bedroom bungalow, you can just take one family.
21:56But we want to rather build an eight, a 10 story building that can accommodate one, two, three, four, five.
22:04As a result, it's going to take us about two years instead of three, four, five, six months.
22:10Now, in the first three months, we are going to be doing this.
22:13Then we now do that.
22:14So while this man is living in his house, the people are not looking down on these guys because they have an understanding that this one will contain 10 families instead of just one family.
22:26And then the foundation needs to be very good.
22:29It is the way it is that we need to have piling.
22:31They have that information.
22:33Now, that hope of, you know, of a better future makes the people to be patient with you.
22:39So we are laying foundations of a better future, but we are not communicating enough to the people.
22:46And the people are like, what's going on?
22:49Thank you, Architect Zikia Yaitok, for shedding light on what lies ahead, 2027 elections.
22:54I am Timmy Tayo, Olumofe.
22:56Thanks for watching Guardian TV.
22:58Hi, I am Timmy Tayo.
23:05I am Timmy Tayo.
23:05I am Timmy Tayo.
23:06I am Timmy Tayo.
23:21You are spirits of the lot of people.
23:22I am so glad to see you again.
23:23Bye.
23:24Bye.
23:24Bye.
23:25Bye.
23:26Bye.
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