The Senior Political Assistant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Demola Olarewaju, has defended the emerging opposition coalition being built around the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Olarenwaju insisted that the arrangement was not structured around personal ambition but a wider democratic convergence of political actors.
Speaking with newsmen on Monday, Olarewaju began by situating Atiku’s political identity within what he described as a long-standing democratic tradition.
He argued that Atiku had consistently demonstrated willingness to accept internal party outcomes, even when unfavourable.
According to him, this behaviour was not recent but deeply rooted in the former Vice President’s early political experiences.
He insisted that critics often overlook this historical pattern when analysing Atiku’s current political posture.
He traced Atiku’s political journey back to the early 1990s, arguing that it provided context for his present-day decisions.
Olarewaju recalled that Atiku once ran for governor in 1992 under the military transition era, explaining that political disqualifications at the time altered the structure of the contest significantly.
This, he said, opened the space for younger political actors to step forward under mentorship structures.
