Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has announced his exit from the African Democratic Congress (ADC), citing deepening internal crises and what he described as a worsening political environment in the country.
In a statement shared on Sunday via X, Obi said his decision followed “deep personal reflection” and the “silent pains” he had endured while navigating Nigeria’s political landscape.
He warned that the system had become increasingly hostile to genuine service, noting: “We now live in an environment that has become increasingly toxic, where the system that should protect and create opportunities often works against the people.”
Obi said his experience within political platforms had been marked by internal pressures and contradictions, adding that “some who publicly identify with you privately distance themselves or join in unfair criticism,” while humility is often misread as weakness.
Clarifying the circumstances of his exit, he stated: “Let me state clearly: my decision to leave the ADC is not because our highly respected Chairman, Senator David Mark, treated me badly, nor because my leader and elder brother, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, or any other respected leaders did anything personally wrong to me. I will continue to respect them.”
The former Anambra governor, however, pointed to systemic issues affecting party cohesion. “The same Nigerian state and its agents that created unnecessary crises and hostility within the Labour Party that forced me to leave now appear to be finding their way into the ADC, with endless court cases, internal battles, suspicion, and division, instead of focusing on deeper national problems and playing politics built more on control and exclusion than on service and nation-building,” he said.
Obi emphasised that his political decisions are not driven by personal ambition. “I am not desperate to be President, Vice President or Senate President. I am desperate to see a Nigeria where people can live in dignity, without hunger, fear, or displacement,” he stated.
Despite his departure from the party, he reaffirmed confidence in the country’s future, insisting that transformative leadership remains achievable. “A new Nigeria is possible,” he declared.
