The All Democratic Alliance (ADA), an anti-Tinubu coalition party whose formation was announced last weekend, has commenced mass mobilization across the country.
The new party, according to its leaders, has equally applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) for registration.
However, the INEC has denied seeing the application from the ADA.
Babachir Lawal, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and a leading anti-Tinubu’s reelection force said forming a new political party would amount to a futile exercise as the 2027 general election was too close for any new political party to consolidate.
Leading members of the anti-Tinubu coalition include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Rivers State governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir El-Rufai, the convener of the League of Northern Democrats, Dr Umar Ardo and a host of others.
The group had considered joining an existing political party, which saw the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and the Social Democratic Party, SDP, jostling to outdo each other to be considered.
However, several members of the coalition expressed concerns over the internal wrangling within existing parties which in some cases had led to litigations.
In its push for a new party, the association’s Protem National Chairman, Chief Akin A Rickets, in a letter to INEC said: “Application for registration as a political party.
We respectfully write to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, requesting the registration of our association, the All Democratic Alliance (ADA) as a political party.”
However, the leaders of ADA, have reportedly commenced mass mobilisation across the country.
Despite its application before INEC, multiple sources said that the process of crystallization into a full, formidable opposition political party is still in a state of flux.
It was further gathered that consultations across the six geo-political zones are ongoing to woo politicians and stakeholders to join the fold.
Though the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it would not join the anti-Tinubu coalition, Vanguard was reliably informed that “some other leaders of PDP, All Progressives Congress, APC, and Labour Party, LP, are arrowheads of this coalition.”
Meanwhile, Governors elected on the platform of the PDP have already ruled out the possibility of a merger or coalition with any other political party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
However, there are strong indications that the desire to wrest power from the ruling APC may inspire a grand coalition.
It was further gathered that as the 2027 general elections gather storm, the likelihood of crises erupting from both the APC and PDP over nomination during their primaries, is inevitable.
Sources told section of the media that as they fall out of the crisis, aggrieved aspirants may seek an alternative platform in the new party to actualize their ambitions.
“We are waiting to profit from the crisis of nomination that would engulf the APC and PDP in some states”, a source said.
Another source familiar with the anti-Tinubu coalition, who spoke on the application for a political party, said:
“I think they know what they are doing and good counsel appears to be prevailing. Political engineering and maneuvers, including campaigns, will be very interesting in the coming months. “It will be very good for our democracy because when you have an opposition that is very effective, it is likely to engender an atmosphere that will inspire alternative narratives about how the country can move forward,” the source said.
