August 28, (THEWILL) — Over 3,000 members of the Rainbow Alliance in Ogun State have defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), seeking to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections.
Also, about 10,000 members of the Nigeria Automobile Technician Association (NATA), comprising painters, mechanics, and panel beaters, have defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The Rainbow Alliance southwest leader, Prof. Ola Olateju, who disclosed this on Wednesday, during the integration of members into the ADC coalition in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said that the Rainbow Alliance merged with the coalition because of the trust it had in ADC to fulfil its political dream of a better Nigeria.
Olateju said that since party leaders, including former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Ameachi, former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, as well as former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, were in the coalition, it became expedient for the movement to join the coalition too.
He said that members of the Rainbow Alliance, consisting of politicians, civil organisations, religious bodies, activists, to mention a few, were drawn from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling APC, which sees ADC as a political platform that could bring the sufferings of Nigerians to an end.
The Professor of Political Science at Achievers University, Owoh, Ondo State, said that the alliance came to the fore shortly after the 2023 elections, with the combination of minds determined to rid the country of its skyrocketing inflation, hunger, and economic hardships with its coalition to ADC and taking over the reins of power from APC come the 2027 general elections.
He said that the Rainbow Alliance has at least 20 coordinators in each 20 local councils of the state, insisting that with such numbers of coordinators, he was certain that they could pull a massive crowd for the ADC coalition to defeat the ruling APC both at the centre and across the 36 states of the federation.
Olateju said, “We came up immediately after the 2023 General Elections, some of us that are intellectuals, activists, politicians, religious bodies, civil organisations, came together and we brainstormed how we can make a change in the country, can we have a movement, can we use the rainbow as a symbol representing the movement.
“So when the coalition discussion came up, we were involved, and we discovered that most of these ideas we formulated could not be achieved with a political party, and we chose ADC. The essence of our movement is to ensure that every Nigerian segment as adequately represented and occupies political offices”
“We have 20 local governments in Ogun, at least coordinators alone, we have a minimum of 20 in each local government, so we will be looking at 3000 people already aligned and being integrated into ADC. This is just a symbolic integration. We are part of the coalition of ADC, some of us work for Atiku Abubakar, some of our members are PDP, and some are APC.
“You could hear the party Chairman saying that they are giving NATA the opportunity to come out and contest for elective positions in the next election is part of our programme that those who have been voting can also be voted for. We all believe that lets us have a new beginning, which resonates with our thinking, so we have no other party to go to than ADC. Had it been the coalition not adopted ADC, we wouldn’t be here because we want a change”, he stressed.
In the same vein, Spokesperson for NATA, Com. Hameed Adewale, said that the association had over 10,000 members already joining the ADC coalition to include their members in partisan politics and bring about the needed change for a better Nigeria.
“Because of the change of government and the advancement of our members. About 10,000 members of NATA in Ogun State will join ADC, and I will also advise everybody to join ADC”, Adewale noted
Earlier, ADC’s state chairman, Otunba Femi Soluade, welcomed the groups, saying that the two mergers would improve the membership of the party in the state, insisting that, under his leadership as the chairman, they wouldn’t regret their decision.
Soluade opined that ADC was not resting on its oars to win the 2027 presidential elections and take over the reins of power in all the 36 states of the country, including the local councils, while calling on Nigerian citizens to shun money bag politics.
“It is a work in progress, and we are only consolidating, and we are continuing to build on the foundation that has been solidly laid, and for us to bring a diverse group of people, I have no doubt in my mind that we will blossom. There will soon be a convergence of all political parties and groups, movements that have joined us.
“It is not only to be in power, it is not basically we are not desperate to take over power, we are far from it, but our country needs a change our country needs to move forward you cannot have water in your house and you are feeling taste, or using spittle to wash your hand or face that is the reason why we are coming together as a political party with different ideology to continue galvanising people of likes minds to take over the reigns of power”, he added
Seun Shotunde, THEWILL
