Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, today expressed his approval of the opposition coalition’s adoption of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), stating it’s a positive development for Nigeria’s democracy and will prevent the nation from becoming a one-party state.
Gbajabiamila made these remarks to journalists after casting his ballot in the Lagos State local government elections in Surulere on Saturday.
“It’s a welcome development with the coalition. It’s not the first time we’re seeing this. It’s a welcome development,” he said.
“In every democracy, we must have some level of opposition otherwise we’ll run into a one-party state. But I’m not sure where it would go.”
Earlier this month, leaders of the newly formed opposition coalition converged at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja. During the meeting, they formally adopted the ADC as their platform to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections.
The event saw Ralph Nwosu hand over the party’s membership card to former Senate President David Mark and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who were introduced as the interim national chairman and national secretary, respectively.
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The gathering attracted a significant number of prominent political figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi, former governors Nasir El-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi, and other notable stakeholders like Dino Melaye, Dele Momodu, Solomon Dalung, Senator Gabriel Suswam, Senator Ireti Kingibe, Emeka Ihedioha, and retired Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
Several politicians from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) were also in attendance.
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives cast his vote at Polling Unit 014, located at Elizabeth Fowler Memorial High School in the Adeniran Ogunsanya area of Surulere.
Gbajabiamila arrived at the polling unit, which has 669 registered voters, at exactly 12:28 PM, accompanied by supporters and government officials. He cast his vote just three minutes later, at 12:31 PM.
While describing the local government election as free and fair, Gbajabiamila also expressed concern over the generally low voter turnout.
He said, “So far, I’ve seen peace, I’ve seen quiet, I’ve seen free and fair election. A little bit disappointed about the turnout which is where we need to work on. There is general low turnout from what I’ve seen.
“Perhaps because people don’t understand fully the importance of local government elections, which is even more important than any other election. We need to sensitise our people. We need to educate them about the importance of grassroot government.
“But so far, it’s peaceful and quiet. It’s free and fair. There are no skirmishes anywhere and that’s what we all want for any election.”
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