The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has urged Nigerians not to judge the party’s strength by its performance in the recent by-elections held across 16 constituencies, where it failed to secure any seat.
The elections, conducted on August 16 to replace lawmakers who died or resigned after the 2023 general elections, saw the All Progressives Congress (APC) win 12 of the 16 available seats across nine states. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) secured two seats in Anambra, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clinched one seat in Oyo, while the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) claimed one seat in Kano.
Reacting to the outcome, ADC spokesman Bolaji Abdullahi attributed the party’s poor outing to its transition period and lack of preparedness. “The election happened less than a month after we came into the party. Most of the candidates, we didn’t even know them. That’s why we said we cannot judge the ADC by that,” he said.
He stressed that the by-election occurred too early for the party, which is still reorganizing its leadership. Abdullahi added that future polls would better reflect the ADC’s capacity.
Meanwhile, in an earlier statement, the ADC alleged widespread irregularities during the exercise, accusing the ruling APC of perpetrating vote-buying, ballot box snatching, voter intimidation, and violence, as well as exploiting failures of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
