By Abiola Olawale
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has dismissed speculations surrounding the absence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the G100 Opposition Summit held in Abuja.
The party clarified that Atiku’s absence was neither a boycott nor a reflection of internal friction, emphasizing that the summit was designed primarily as an inter-party collaboration event rather than a gathering of individual presidential candidates.
The G100 Summit, convened at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, brought together key leaders from opposition parties—including the ADC, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP)—to discuss alliance strategies and democratic reforms ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Addressing public concerns about why top opposition figures like Atiku were missing from the high-profile gathering, the ADC’s leadership said the primary purpose of the G100 initiative is to build structural synergy among political platforms.
The ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the summit was primarily focused on discussions among political parties rather than presidential candidates.
Abdullahi spoke on Tuesday during an appearance on Arise Television’s Day Break.
“The summit—the way we understand it, the summit is more about conversation between political parties, rather than conversation among candidates.
“It’s more about exploring cooperation opportunities among political parties. So, it’s not consequential that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was not present,” he said.
Abdullahi said the ADC was adequately represented at the summit, noting that he attended alongside four of the party’s vice chairmen.
“I was there; the party was highly represented—we had like four Vice Chairmen there at the G100 Summit. So, ADC was fully represented, and we participated in the process,” he said.
The summit, held on Monday at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, brought together representatives of six opposition political parties to discuss possible areas of cooperation ahead of the 2027 elections.
The meeting was part of ongoing efforts by opposition parties to develop a common framework for collaboration in their bid to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress.
However, Atiku, the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, the Allied Peoples Movement and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, were among prominent opposition figures absent from the gathering.
Presidential candidates at the summit included Donald Duke of the Peoples Redemption Party, Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party and Moses Adebisi of the Democratic Leadership Alliance.
The ADC spokesperson also said the party’s participation in the talks was not dependent on its ability to produce a single presidential candidate with other opposition parties.
“We in the African Democratic Congress, we are happy to have this conversation, but everything we are doing is not dependent on whether we can produce a single presidential candidate.
“We are saying that on our own, as the ADC, we can defeat President Bola Tinubu in 2027. But if we can negotiate this cooperation, then it makes the job easier,” he said.
