Former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie Oyegun, has joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC), accusing his former party of worsening the hunger and insecurity facing Nigerians.
Speaking in Benin shortly after receiving his ADC membership card from the Edo State Chairman of the party, Kennedy Odion, Oyegun didn’t hold back. He said the APC-led government has failed to tackle the country’s deepening food crisis and growing insecurity, particularly in Benue State and other parts of the country.
“This country has never been this divided,” Oyegun said. “The hunger, the starvation—it’s not just an economic issue. It’s a failure of leadership, and APC cannot escape that blame.”
Oyegun, who also served as governor of Edo State, revealed that the decision to join ADC followed wide consultations and in-depth research on available political options.
According to him, several parties were considered before ADC was chosen as the most promising platform for national rescue.
“We talked to a lot of parties—about seven others—up till the very last minute. We made a report and we said ADC. And some said, ‘No, no, no, you must still talk to this, you must still talk to that.’ So, we delayed the decision for another fortnight.
“At the end of our meeting, we still came back. I said, ‘Yes, what you asked us to do we’ve done. We’ve talked to the others, but we have not seen a party as dedicated as the ADC,’” Oyegun explained.
He dismissed claims that ADC’s growing coalition is aimed at disrupting the current government, saying those pushing that narrative are only trying to distract the public from the group’s true mission.
“Those who are peddling the rumour that the ADC is planning to disrupt the government of the day are only trying to diminish the aims and objectives of the coalition, which is to rescue Nigerians,” he said.
Oyegun noted that the ADC has expanded rapidly in recent weeks and now includes members from across different political backgrounds—including former PDP and APC members, professionals, and newcomers to politics.
“So, from a month ago, you were just ADC. Today, one can say we are the largest party in this nation. We are growing by the day, we are growing by the week. We are growing by the months. People understand. In all parties, we are not talking, it’s still ADC, but ADC is now a mix of the best of PDP.
“Some of the best of APC, a lot of them are still coming on the way. And all the other parties. And the good thing is that, you haven’t seen a lot of the faces yet—both professionals, people who never thought of politics, people who just finished from minding heights of the economy, but in whatever service,” he added.
Earlier, while presenting the party card to Oyegun, Mr. Odion said the former APC chairman is no stranger to building political coalitions, noting that he once led a successful effort and could do it again.
“He has put together what is called a coalition before and he succeeded. So, in mathematics, once you understand the formula, the answer is in view. So, he understands how he did it before, so doing it again is not a difficult task,” Odion said.
He also emphasized Oyegun’s leadership role in identifying ADC as the coalition’s platform: “He was the chairman of the implementation committee that decided that ADC will be the platform.”
