Stop Blaming Tinubu for your Self-imposed Woes, Bayo Onanuga tells ADC

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, has asked the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to stop blaming the president and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its “woes”.

BACKGROUND

The warning comes amid the leadership crisis rocking the ADC, culminating in the de-recognition of the David Mark-led leadership of the party and the Nafiu Bala faction by INEC on Wednesday.

In a statement, Mohammed Haruna, INEC’s commissioner for information and voter education, said the commission will refrain from engaging both factions, citing the March 12 court of appeal judgment.

INEC said it will not attend meetings, congresses, or conventions of the ADC groups pending the determination of a case before the federal high court.

Reacting, the Mark-led ADC demanded the immediate removal of Joash Amupitan, INEC national chairman, saying the commission’s interpretation of the appeal court judgment shows it has taken sides and can no longer be trusted.

Addressing a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, Mark accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu of pressuring INEC to undermine and weaken opposition parties in a bid to foist a one-party state on the country.

However, the APC pushed back, alleging that the Mark-led executives hijacked the ADC and neglected the party’s constitution and internal leadership arrangement.

‘SELF-INFLICTED WOES’

In a Thursday post on X, Onanuga asked the ADC to stop dragging Tinubu and the electoral commission into its internal crisis.

He said the challenges confronting the Mark-led leadership are self-inflicted, adding that the situation has been worsened by what he described as a controversial interpretation of the principle of status quo ante bellum in the appeal court judgment.

Onanuga, who titled his post ‘Status quo versus status quo ante bellum: An explainer to the wailing ADC’, said he consulted artificial intelligence (AI) and Google for the meanings of the Latin terms.

“Status quo ante bellum means the state existing before the war,” he said.

The presidential aide added that the term is used in treaties and diplomacy to describe a peace settlement in which neither side gains or loses territory, power, or economic rights, effectively restoring the political and geographical conditions that existed before the conflict began.

“The related phrase status quo ante, literally ‘the status before’, refers to the state of affairs that existed previously,” he said.

He added that “in the case between Nafiu Gombe versus ADC, David Mark, and Rauf Aregbesola, ‘status quo ante bellum’ means reverting to the ADC as it existed before Ralph Nwoye sold the party to Abubakar Atiku to serve as an SPV for the 2027 election”.

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Onanuga said Bala has claimed he is still the vice-chairman of the ADC, that he never resigned, and that he ought to have become the automatic chairman following Nwoye’s resignation.

“The ADC should stop blaming President Tinubu and INEC for its self-inflicted woes,” he added.