2027: APC-PCC urges Nigerian workers to reject ADC

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC) has cautioned Nigerian workers against voting for candidates of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the forthcoming general elections.

In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Dele Alake, the APC-PCC alleged that the opposition party had “refused and neglected to pay party staff for over a year”.

The APC-PCC criticised the ADC’s National Secretary, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, recalling that workers in Osun State were owed salaries during Aregbesola’s eight-year tenure as governor.

“His government thus introduced quarter-salary and, at times, half-salary payments. As for pensioners, he abandoned them for more than four years,” the statement alleged.

The statement further alleged that Atiku had a history of owing employees.

“Atiku Abubakar, the ADC’s leader and presidential candidate, has a reputation for owing his employees. While he regularly junkets to the UAE, staff at his Gotel Communication and other businesses also went months without pay and staged protests over unpaid salaries and other benefits,” the statement read.

Describing the alleged 12 months of unpaid salaries owed to ADC staff as unconscionable, the APC-PCC maintained that a party unable to manage its own affairs and ensure the welfare of its workforce should not be entrusted with governing the country.

The statement read, “It has come to our attention that the National Working Committee of the African Democratic Congress, led by Senator David Mark as Chairman and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as Secretary, has refused and neglected to pay party staff for over a year.

“We find it unconscionable that a political party that has made many grandiose promises to hoodwink Nigerians owes its workers for more than 12 months. Owing staff who come to work every day and who rely on their salaries for their daily sustenance is wicked and reprehensible.

“With this development, Nigerians can now see the emptiness and insincerity of those parading themselves as ‘new saviours’.

“We have clearly stated that ADC leaders and their presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, do not mean well and can do nothing for our country. Their desperation for power is driven by personal aggrandisement and venomous ill will against President Bola Tinubu. A party that cannot pay its cleaners and workforce cannot be entrusted with our country’s affairs.

“Atiku Abubakar, the ADC’s leader and presidential candidate, has a reputation for owing his employees. While he regularly junkets to the UAE, staff at his Gotel Communication and other businesses also went months without pay and staged protests over unpaid salaries and other benefits.

“The record of the ADC National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, on paying workers’ salaries and pensioners in Osun State, where he was governor for eight years, was abysmal. As governor, he mismanaged the state’s finances to the point that he could not pay workers. His government thus introduced quarter-salary and, at times, half-salary payments. As for pensioners, he abandoned them for more than four years. Many died because they could not afford the basics of life.

“We are therefore not surprised that ADC, harbouring birds of the same feather, cannot pay its workers’ salaries.

“We are sounding a warning to Nigerians and working people now: reject ADC. Reject Atiku Abubakar and reject all ADC candidates in the next general elections. They do not have the interest of our country and our people at heart. A party that aspires to govern Nigeria and which cannot be trusted with something as basic as the management of its own affairs and the welfare of its workforce should be rejected by Nigerians.”