By Olatunbosun Obafemi
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned what it described as orchestrated attacks against former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, warning that attempts to demonise opposition figures in the South West pose a threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
In a statement issued on Monday by its interim national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party accused supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of mobilising against Aregbesola for exercising his democratic rights.
Abdullahi noted that the former minister had consistently aligned himself with the Nigerian people and should not be vilified for maintaining an independent political stance.
Recalling past political history, Abdullahi said that in the aftermath of the June 12 crisis, Nigerians made a conscious effort to heal national divisions by supporting a Yoruba man, Olusegun Obasanjo, to become president. Despite that, he argued, Tinubu vigorously challenged Obasanjo’s administration without being branded a traitor to the Yoruba race.
“No one accused BAT of treachery against the Yoruba people, even when he antagonised Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural group,” Abdullahi said. “We therefore have strong doubts that Asiwaju would approve of what is being done in his name today.”
The ADC spokesperson lamented that rather than fostering democratic tolerance, some supporters of the president and the All Progressives Congress (APC) appeared determined to silence dissenting voices.
“Attempts to demonise Aregbesola and other Yoruba leaders in the opposition are undemocratic and disgraceful. They are also inimical to the long-term political interests of the Yoruba people,” he said. “President BAT is not the South West, and the South West is not him.”
Abdullahi alleged that some of Tinubu’s loyalists were even courting controversial figures to discredit the former minister. “The impression one gets is that Tinubu’s people are so afraid of Aregbesola that they are throwing everything at him—even recruiting Sunday Igboho, a self-declared ethnic warlord, into the fight,” he claimed.
According to him, such tactics promote the dangerous idea that tribal and personal loyalties outweigh the national interest.
While affirming that Aregbesola is capable of defending himself, the ADC said it was compelled to speak out against what it views as an assault on democratic freedoms.
“As a party, we condemn this act of intolerance and assault on freedom. It must cease immediately,” Abdullahi declared.
