‘APC offered me three ministerial slots’ — Ralph Nwosu opens up on pressure to stop ADC coalition
Ralph Nwosu, former national chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has revealed that he was offered three ministerial slots to frustrate the formation of the opposition coalition using the ADC platform.
Speaking at the ADC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, where the party officially handed over leadership to a new executive led by David Mark, Nwosu said the offer came from unnamed senior government officials in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Some people tried to discourage us with promises of automatic ministerial appointments. They want to give me three ministerial slots so that I can take one and give two to others that I chose,” he said.
“But I said no. I chose a democratic future of Nigeria. Nigeria cannot be a one-party state after all we did to ensure that the military was exited from governance and returned to the barracks.”
Nwosu described the move to block the coalition as a threat to the country’s democracy, tagging the opposition alliance as the “saviour of Nigerian democracy.”
“By rejecting the offers, the ADC is now the party with the largest membership. ADC is now the government in waiting, with 28 senators and more than 60 members of the House of Representatives,” he said.
“ADC grew from one small party to a very large party now. Nigerians have shown that they detest what the party in government is doing right now.”
He said the party remained committed to building a coalition that prioritises the interest of Nigerians despite threats and attacks.
“Some of our people are being kidnapped. But we insist on the coalition in the best interest. They use government money to book places for their agents of destabilisation.”
Nwosu also highlighted efforts made to ensure transparency during the transition of party leadership, including the invitation of INEC to witness the process.
“We all made commitments that we are stepping down as NWC and NEC members. We are very careful with the kind of people we are going to choose to lead the party because a single bad person can spoil the whole good job that must have been done,” he said.
“Our constitution says all elected members, serving and non-serving, are NEC members. The last NEC meeting gave the NWC mandate to go ahead with the coalition talks.”
He added that following the announcement of the coalition, ADC’s membership surged to over three million within two weeks—a sign of growing public support ahead of the 2027 general elections.
