• Gombe faction dissociates from statement by Abdullahi on economy 
• Atiku, Mallami submit nomination forms 
• Amaechi declares 2027 polls as turn of Nigerians

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the President Bola Tinubu administration of running a “Ponzi economy” following the Federal Government’s move to seek a fresh $1.25 billion World Bank loan, despite Nigeria’s rising debt profile of about N159.28 trillion.
  
This was as the ADC faction led by Nafiu Bala Gombe distanced itself from a statement by Bolaji Abdullahi that more than N800 billion was generated through deductions from Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations for political purposes ahead of the 2027 general elections.
  
Amid the internal wranglings in the ADC, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has submitted his nomination and expression of interest forms to contest the 2027 presidential election on the party’s platform.
  
Meanwhile, former minister Chibuike Amaechi has declared that the 2027 general elections will be the turn of Nigerians to rescue themselves from the current administration that has inflicted unimaginable suffering on the people.
  
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Abdullahi, ADC said the government was taking new loans to service old debts while Nigerians continue to suffer rising food prices, unemployment, insecurity, business closures and worsening inflation.
  
The party expressed disappointment that Tinubu himself declared that Nigeria would spend about $11.6 billion (over N15 trillion) on debt servicing alone in 2026, which, in simple terms, means that trillions of naira that should have gone into roads, hospitals, schools, electricity, security, agriculture, and job creation will instead go into paying creditors and servicing old loans.
  
“Even more disturbing is the speed and scale of the borrowing. Since assuming office in May 2023, the Tinubu administration has pursued or secured multiple World Bank facilities and external loans running into billions of dollars.
  
“Each time they want to borrow money, this government invents a new acronym. From ARMOR to RESET, HOPE or SPIN
 
These are merely different labels for the same pretext to continue borrowing without any recourse to measurable impacts on the lives of Nigerians,” it stated.
BUT the Director of Media and Public Affairs of the Gombe faction, Christopher Okechukwu, categorically dissociated itself from both Abdullahi and the statement credited to him.

Okechukwu reaffirmed its commitment to principled opposition politics and democratic values ahead of the 2027 general elections.
  
He said: “The ADC, therefore, wishes to categorically dissociate itself from a statement issued by Abdullahi, purportedly on behalf of the party, in which he alleged that over N800 billion was generated through deductions from FAAC allocations for political purposes in preparation for the 2027 general elections.
  
“The ADC remains committed to playing the role of a principled opposition and will continue to challenge and criticise government policies and programmes which it considers detrimental to the interests and welfare of the Nigerian people.”

ATIKU and his supporters stormed the ADC Secretariat, yesterday, signalling the completion of the first phase leading into the primaries of the coalition opposition ADC.
  
Former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Mallami (SAN), also submitted his forms to contest the 2027 governorship election in Kebbi State on the ADC platform.
   
The former VP’s presence at the ADC Secretariat created a chaotic situation among supporters who came to cheer him up.
  
Ignoring media engagement at the Secretariat, Atiku was escorted away by security personnel after successfully submitting his forms.
AMAECHI also declared that in an event that consensus did not favour him, he would go into primaries, dismissingnarratives of a Christian or Muslim turn.
  
He stressed that every aspirant running for the office of President had an antecedent and should be judged by their records of service.
  
Amaechi, after submitting his nomination and expression of interest forms at the National Secretariat of the ADC yesterday, said his experience in public service convinces him that he is the right candidate to defeat Tinubu in 2027.
  
He told journalists that the era of entitlement that rests squarely on sentiment or regional considerations should be discarded if Nigerians want to make progress.
 
“I would say that what you are seeing is that nearly everybody who is running for the office of the President has served Nigeria in one way or another. Let this be a referendum. If you have performed, whoever has outperformed the other, vote for that person. 
  
“It is this ‘Emilokan’ that brought us here. It is our turn that brought us here. Now it is the turn of Nigerians,” he added.