Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has officially defected from the ruling party to the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), citing issues of principle and conscience.
Adamu was formally received into the ADC on Thursday in Keffi, Nasarawa State, where he addressed party supporters and explained the reasons behind his political realignment. According to him, the APC has strayed from the ideals upon which it was founded.
The former senator accused the ruling party of marginalising experienced members, stifling dissenting voices, and eroding internal democracy. He said these developments made it impossible for him to continue within the party in good conscience.
Adamu was appointed APC National Chairman in March 2022 but exited the position in July 2023, less than two months after President Bola Tinubu was sworn in. His departure from office was widely viewed as controversial and shrouded in uncertainty at the time.
A veteran politician, Adamu previously served as governor of Nasarawa State for eight years between 1999 and 2007 under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was elected to the Senate in 2007 to represent Nasarawa West Senatorial District and, in 2014, defected to the APC alongside nine other serving PDP senators.
Since leaving his role as APC chairman, the 79-year-old politician had largely stayed out of the public eye. Political observers have linked his eventual exit from the APC to tensions that arose during the build-up to the party’s 2022 presidential primaries.
During that period, Adamu publicly declared former Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the APC’s consensus presidential candidate. However, Bola Tinubu went on to defeat Lawan and 12 other aspirants to clinch the party’s ticket and later emerged victorious in the 2023 presidential election.
Party insiders and analysts have consistently suggested that Adamu’s perceived hostility toward Tinubu before and during the election campaign contributed significantly to his forced resignation as APC national chairman.
