A COALITION group led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has formed a new party and is seeking registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The proposed party – All Democratic Alliance (ADA) – also has former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, and former Senate President David Mark as its leaders.
The application letter, dated June 19, was marked ‘received’ by INEC on Friday, June 20.
A copy of the letter was reportedly signed by the group’s interim National Chairman. Akin Rickets.
According to a statement by the coalition, the development followed a meeting of its leaders in Abuja on May 6.
The statement was signed by Amaechi and Umar Ardo as the chairman and secretary of the New Platform Committee (NPC), respectively.
The NPC said it had 15 members mandated to form an association to apply to INEC to register the new political party.
According to the statement, a series of meetings were held, sub-committees were constituted, and reports were submitted to the committee leading to the meeting and resolutions.
“At the meeting of the New Platform Committee held on Thursday, June 19, 2025, the committee approved the formation of the ADA as a political association and the party’s logo, slogan, and motto.
“Also approved were the party manifesto, its constitution, and the appointment of the interim leadership of the party, with Akin A. Ricketts as protem chairman, and Abdullahi Musa Elayo as protem national secretary,” the group stated.
The coalition also directed the interim leadership of the proposed political party to get office accommodation, open a bank account for the party, after registration by INEC, and operate the activities of the party as enshrined in its constitution and the Electoral Act (2022).
In recent months, there have been increasing talks about the possible formation of a coalition, comprising Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party LP, Peter Obi, and El-Rufai, to defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
It would be recalled that Atiku was the presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the last poll.
While leaders of the coalition had hinted at forming a new party to present a formidable team against Tinubu in the next election, the ruling APC has repeatedly said that a coalition against Tinubu would fail.
While responding to the planned coalition in April, the presidency mocked Abubakar, El-Rufai and other opposition leaders.
While many Nigerians are groaning that the APC government has worsened hardship for citizens, the party’s membership has, however, been swelling in the past months as more PDP and other parties’ members defect to the ruling party.
A reporter with the ICIR
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