African Democratic Congress , ADC, has said that it is in full support of the decision of the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, to endorse the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as its joint presidential candidate.
The National Chairman of the party, Chief Ralphs Nwosu, who disclosed this during ADC’s Fund Raising Dinner/First Annual Global Handshake Awards, in Abuja at the weekend, said ADC’s main priority was the wellbeing of Nigeria.
He said as a party with integrity, ADC would always abide with the provisions of the CUPP Memorandum of Understanding and assured members, stakeholders and supporters that all grey areas would be addressed to ensure that all ADC votes were protected in the National Assembly and other elections.
Nwosu said this just as he maintained that ADC’s 115 sitting legislators at the state and federal levels and others contesting election at different levels would defeat the ruling and other parties in 2019.
On the fate of the party’s presidential candidate, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, the National Chairman explained that all presidential aspirants had been properly briefed before the primary on the decision of the party to adhere strictly to the provisions of the CUPP MoU.
“Our presidential aspirants were properly briefed before and during the screening exercise for the primary. We made it clear to them that they, and presidential candidates of other member parties would have to go into the CUPP basket from where the best would emerge, based on consensus. We made it clear that the party would uphold the decision of CUPP even if they eventually did not make it, because our first priority is to deliver the nation from the hands of the ruling party, and no one can do it alone,” he said.
“Since our guide, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has adopted ADC and played a critical role in the formation of CUPP, we have decided that we will follow the directions given by the Coalition team because we believe they are people of integrity. Our candidate will also respect that decision,” Nwosu added.
According to the chairman, ADC currently has over five million card-carrying members across all the states of the federation.
He noted that the fund raising dinner and awards ceremony was to garner support and evolve a people-oriented party that would effectively respond to the quest for best political leadership that would lead to the realisation of the aspirations of the founding fathers of the country.
He said the party had five elected Senators, 18 members of the House of Representatives, and several members of the states’ assembly, spread across the country.
“It will interest Nigerians to know that in Oyo State alone, ADC has more members in the State House of Assembly than any other party,” he noted.
