ADC CONVENTION: Atiku calls threats against venue owners ‘cowardly abuse of power’

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned alleged plans to bar the African Democratic Party (ADC) from using the proposed venue for its national convention scheduled for today (Tuesday).

The former No. 2 citizen said in a post on his X account on Monday night that the act was a “shameful and cowardly abuse of public office.”

The ADC had claimed on Monday that the owner of the proposed venue for the ADC convention, the Rainbow Event Centre, said he was under pressure from the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesome Wike that their license would be revoked if the ADC allowed the use of the facility.

Responding, Atiku said, “The report from the spokesperson of our great party, which exposed plans by the government and its agents to revoke the license of the Rainbow Event Center for the sole violation of hosting the African Democratic Congress convention scheduled for today, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, is a shameful and cowardly abuse of public office.

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“Let it be said without a doubt: forcing private business owners to deny the use of premises by legally registered opposition parties is not governance. This is not politics. This is the naked act of a regime that has lost its argument, lost its people, and is now taking power because there is nothing left.

“ADC has paid all costs. ADC has signed every contract. ADC has broken no laws. Our only violation is that we organized, we developed, and we prepared to retire this failed government at the 2027 elections.

“This is how democracy is strangled, not in one dramatic blow, but in thousands of small acts and reprisals against opposition parties, against freedom of assembly, and against the sacred right of citizens to elect their own leaders. To the international community, and every partner of Nigeria’s democracy: pay attention to what is being done here tonight, and in whose name.

“We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced. We will not bow to this creeping tyranny, and we will never bow to the petty tyrants behind it.

“This convention will remain in place. ADC will rise. And Nigeria will rise with it. -AA”