The political chessboard ahead of the 2027 general elections took a dramatic turn on Friday as veteran actor, lawyer, and opposition figure Kenneth Okonkwo declared the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the only true opposition party in Nigeria.
Okonkwo, who served as a spokesperson for Peter Obi during the 2023 presidential campaign, dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) as hollow shells, insisting they “exist only on paper” and no longer command any real political force.
> “Strictly speaking, there is no longer any party like the PDP or LP. Whoever is in PDP is either supporting the APC or the ADC. That’s just the reality,” Okonkwo stated on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
Citing internal cracks within the PDP, Okonkwo took aim at Nyesom Wike, a PDP stalwart who openly supported the APC’s presidential candidate in 2023, describing his actions as proof that the party has imploded beyond repair.
> “When a leader of the PDP tells you openly that he would support the candidate of another party and threatens to burn down his state politically if opposed, then PDP is finished,” he said.
Labour Party ‘Lacks Structure’
Turning his attention to the Labour Party, Okonkwo—once a frontline voice for Obi’s campaign—declared that the party lacked the political machinery to challenge President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
“The Labour Party has no structure capable of sustaining a presidential contest. The ADC is now the only credible opposition,” he asserted.
On whether the ADC would automatically adopt Peter Obi or Atiku Abubakar as its flagbearer, Okonkwo stressed that the party would hold a free and democratic primary, vowing that whoever emerges will be backed against President Tinubu.
“The ADC is courting every Nigerian without preference. In 2027, it will be the people of Nigeria versus the APC, and the ADC is that alternative platform,” he said.
Already, the opposition coalition—comprising Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, former Senate President David Mark, ex-ministers Rauf Aregbesola and Rotimi Amaechi, and former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai—has adopted the ADC as its political platform for the 2027 presidential poll.
But the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) remains unfazed. President Bola Tinubu, during a visit to Nasarawa on June 25, mocked the coalition leaders as “political IDPs” who were only uniting to “unseat themselves.”
“Don’t pay them any attention. They are political internally displaced persons. Don’t give them a home. The hope is here,” Tinubu told his supporters.
With both sides sharpening their rhetoric, Nigeria braces for what promises to be an explosive build-up to 2027—the election that could redefine the country’s political future.
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