This is a statement issued by Nigerian Ambassador designate Femi Fani-Kayode on the crisis rocking ADC
"I watched a faction of the ADC conducting what they described as their party Convention a few days ago & it was pitiful.
I saw an overcrowded hall filled with hot, sweaty, men & women, most of them looking worne, tired & undernourished.
They wore orange caps & were using pamphlets & brochures to fan themselves because the building had no functional air-conditioning system.
They sweated profusely, argued loudly amongst themselves, broke into fisticuffs & at a point in the proceedings one of their more elderly leaders got on the stage, took the microphone and screamed "APC" at the top of his voice after which he suddenly remembered that he had left APC years earlier & that he was actually in an ADC Convention!
Clearly senility & cognitive dissonance had set in & his brain was no longer functioning as it once did.
Pin drop silence hit the crowd & one man, who could not contain his anger, shouted out loudly for all to hear that the embattled & confused elder should ask God for forgiveness for his unforgivable faux pas.
I actually felt sorry for the elder because anyone can make a mistake.
Nevertheless his shame & embarrsament was total & in an attempt to redeem himself & melt the ice he told the astounded & shocked gathering that he was sorry for blurting out the ruling parties initials instead of theirs & that he needed to "take a purgative".
After him another strange-looking elderly man came on the stage who looked badly ravaged by the rigours of life, who was terribly unkempt & who appeared to be in dire need of medical attention.
His attire was badly rumpled, his hat was worne & fading & had holes in it & his slippers were peeling on all sides.
He dressed like a man who had not bought new clothes in ten years.
Once on the stage he grabbed the microphone & bellowed in surprisingly good english & with immense force, confidence & the hubris that always comes before a hard fall that "even if we field a corpse we will defeat Tinubu in 2027".
This was an interesting & rare display of what is commonly referred to as "Dutch courage": that is the boldness that is often associated with a drunken sailor & those that have had one drink too many & are highly & perpetually inebriated.
There is no doubt that this man is troubled & needs help because he looked more like a tramp or a witchdoctor than a politician.
Whatever it is that is troubling him I wish him well & will remember him in my prayers.
Another curious dimension to the whole thing was watching a fully grown bearded man on the stage with a huge pot belly (which made him look pregnant) wearing what looked like a woman's beige skirt on top of a pair of beautiful beige trousers whilst sporting a pair of dark sunglasses to cover his eyes.
Some called it a "bold fashion statement" whilst others said it was an expression of his non-binary status & gender fluidity.
Whichever way to wear a man's trousers & a womans skirt all at the same time at a factional party Convention or anywhere else is a novelty & something few of us have witnessed in a political gathering. I guess times have changed.
Forgive me for saying so but this was indeed a strange gathering of confused, reckless, desperate, cantankerous, quarrelsome & in some cases senile actors from the past who have long lost their glamour, gravitas & steam & who have no sense of purpose, unity or direction.
Is it any wonder that they call them an 'Association of Destructive Clowns'.
If that is the best they can do then President Tinubu has already won the 2027 election. By 12.00 noon it will be over.
What we witnessed was more of a gathering of hungry, ragged & desperate jackals & long-rejected souls that are craving for a return to power rather than the Convention of a legitimate & serious political party.
Mr. President rightly described theirs as a "street Convention". What he failed to add was that it was a street Convention of vagabonds, riggers & wanderers.
Bottom line?
The ADC ain't going nowhere!
(FFK)