‘El-Rufai forced me out’ – Salihu Lukman quits ADC coalition

One of the leading figures of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Salihu Mohammed Lukman, has suspended his membership of the party and the opposition coalition, directly accusing former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, of orchestrating the hostile treatment and political marginalisation that forced him to quit.

In a message addressed to the National Chairman of the ADC, Senator David Mark, and copied to coalition leaders, Lukman explained that his decision followed months of what he described as sustained hostility from El-Rufai and his political associates over the leadership and direction of the party in Kaduna State.

According to him, “This may come to you as a disappointment. I am very sorry. I just can’t continue to bear the painful hostile treatment I keep getting from some leaders from Kaduna, especially Mallam Nasir.”

He claimed that he had been reduced “to the status of a bastard” within a coalition he had worked hard to build, alleging that decisions concerning leadership representation in Kaduna were being manipulated to sideline him.

The development is likely to heighten concerns over the alliance’s internal cohesion, particularly in Kaduna, a state considered strategically important to the coalition’s electoral calculations. It marks one of the most serious public cracks within the ADC-led opposition coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Lukman, a former National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said he had devoted more than a year to reconciling and uniting opposition leaders in Kaduna, only to become the target of what he described as an orchestrated campaign led by El-Rufai and his supporters.

He explained, “For Mallam Nasir and his people, I am the problem. I have decided to resolve the problem for them and everyone.”

He announced the suspension of both his ADC and coalition memberships, saying it was preferable “to be inactive than to continue to chase dashed expectations.”

Lukman also questioned the coalition’s commitment to democratic values, accusing some of its leaders of reproducing the same political practices they had once criticised. He said that for many coalition leaders, “the objective of rescuing the democracy is just about allowing them to have their way, even when their actions reproduce the old habits that destroyed our former parties.”

He further alleged that former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, was reaching out to individuals in Kaduna whose commitment to building the ADC was questionable, while disregarding the views of those who had invested in strengthening the party’s structures.

He stated that “whatever he wants to do with them is certainly not about building the party into a strong democratic party,” stressing that the developments had steadily diminished his confidence in the coalition and reduced the ADC to what he described as “a marginal participant” in preparations for the 2027 elections.

Lukman expressed gratitude to Senator David Mark and other national leaders of the coalition, insisting that his action was not a protest against the party’s national leadership but against what he described as the disdainful treatment meted out to him by El-Rufai and a small group of coalition leaders in Kaduna.