Aleke Aleke in Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has demanded clarification on the alleged coup attempt against President Tinubu.
The party stressed that the government has a duty to decisively quash the swirling rumours.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said in a statement: “Conversely, if indeed there has been any such threat to national security, the government has a duty to be transparent about it and brief the nation accordingly. The government must desist from weaponising national security as a pretext to silence opposition and political dissent.
The ADC is resolute in its opposition to dictatorship of any kind, whether military or its civilian variant. We therefore support any legitimate action that may be taken in defence of our constitution and our democracy. In the same vein, we oppose any ploy by the government to intimidate legitimate voices under the guise of national security.”
Meanwhile, the party strongly decried the government’s justification of political witch-hunts to suppress dissent and manipulate public sentiment.
The ADC equally alleged that the government is attempting to divert the public’s attention from misgovernance in order to curry public sympathy.
Abdullahi stated: “The ADC has been closely monitoring reports of an alleged coup plot involving arrested military officers, along with subsequent media claims that a former southern governor is under investigation for allegedly funding the suspects.
While we vehemently oppose any effort to undermine Nigeria’s constitutional order, we are equally concerned about the potential misuse of such allegations to justify political witch-hunts, suppress dissent, or manipulate public sentiment.
We are particularly concerned about the conflicting signals coming from government sources, especially as the Defence Headquarters has publicly denied ever mentioning a coup plot, despite widespread media reports to the contrary. Such inconsistency raises serious fears that the coup narrative may have been politically engineered.
The ADC is especially concerned that the federal government has not deemed it fit to make a categorical statement on this very serious matter, particularly after the military authorities have repeatedly denied that there was any such threat to the government. By remaining silent, the government has deliberately allowed the coup story to fester—for whatever reason.”
The spokesperson asserted: “What is clear, however, is that the government is exploiting the coup story to divert attention from the real issues of misgovernance in the country and to curry sympathy. Even more significantly, subsequent unattributed media reports, purportedly implicating unnamed politicians in the so-called plot, now provide a pretext for the government to clamp down on opposition figures or subject them to undue surveillance.
We understand that the APC government is desperate—but such desperation must never be allowed to endanger our democracy or undermine the democratic rights of citizens.”
