In an interview with the Sun on Sunday, May 10, 2026, the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, responding to the defection of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso from the ADC to the National Democratic Congress (NDC), dismissed the lofty rhetoric both men had used to justify their political moves, arguing that their actions told a very different story from the selfless narrative they had tried to project.
Abdullahi took direct aim at the carefully crafted language both politicians had employed to frame their ambitions in terms of national service rather than personal gain. “All these talks about, ‘I’m not desperate to be president, I’m desperate to make Nigeria work’ — they are desperate,” he said bluntly, stripping away what he described as a thin veneer of altruism.
He argued that their conduct throughout the coalition process had already revealed the true nature of their motivations, leaving little room for the noble framing they now offered to the public. “They have demonstrated all the behaviour of desperate people,” he charged, suggesting that their actions spoke far louder than their words ever could.
Abdullahi then turned the central claim of their rhetoric on its head, challenging the implied suggestion that Obi in particular held a unique and exclusive commitment to Nigeria’s well-being. “If he says he’s desperate to make Nigeria work, is he the only one that’s desperate to make Nigeria work? Are other people not desperate to make Nigeria work?” he asked pointedly, arguing that wrapping personal ambition in the language of patriotism did not make it any less self-serving.
