After Sokoto plot failed, then the court, Nigerians bash Tinubu, APC

*“The people cannot be intimidated into submission!” — Solomon Dalung

By OUR REPORTER, Abuja

“There is a message in all of this: you can deploy intimidation, manipulate institutions and attempt to suffocate the opposition, but you cannot permanently suppress the will of the people.”

To show the Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that any plot to stop the retrieval of this country from them through whatever means — seemingly constitutional or clearly unconstitutional — will no longer hold water, people of the North-West came out in their thousands on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, to show their support for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, whom they consider the most formidable opposition candidate they can trust with the national assignment.

They broke through the security blockade mounted at the entrance of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) Secretariat in Sokoto to prevent members from using it, leaving them with the only option available to them, as the APC governments in the state and Abuja had allegedly done everything to destabilise the presidential campaign flag-off but had persistently failed.

Some of them said there was no need for any court order to unseal the premises, as those who sealed it had needed no court order to do so in the first place. They claimed that neither Tinubu nor Governor Ahmed Aliyu had any constitutional right to carry out the sealing of the ADC State Secretariat. They therefore broke through and occupied the property to stage their campaign flag-off, although the space was so congested that the crowd spilled onto the road and other adjoining streets, beaming with joy as their preferred presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar; his running mate, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi; the ADC’s national chieftain and leader in the state, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal; another national ADC chieftain, Hon. AbdulSamod Dasuki; the ADC Sokoto State governorship candidate, Muhammad Manir Dan’Iya; and several others stormed the state to launch the ADC campaign.

Recall that Atiku had openly indicted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Department of State Services (DSS), particularly accusing the DSS of recruiting political thugs to cause chaos and destabilise his campaign flag-off in the state.

Recall also that Arewa Transformational Leader, a civil rights group, had on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, written letters of the same contents reporting Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko and Sokoto State Governor Ahmed Aliyu to the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the Muslim World League over allegations that, under their watch, their APC supporters were perpetrating violence by attacking opposition members, including ADC Governorship Candidate Manir Dan’Iya, among others, in order to suppress and weaken them and prevent them from contesting against them in the coming general elections.

After the Sokoto plot failed, many Nigerians, whether in or outside politics, say the fresh judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, purportedly sacking the already constitutionally admitted David Mark-led ADC Executive, was an attempt to render Atiku Abubakar’s presidential candidacy null and void.

Commenting on Wednesday’s first outing of the ADC in Sokoto, said to be a huge success compared with the recent APC flag-off in Kaduna, many Nigerians are reacting and making their comments public.

In his assessment, former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Solomon Dalung, said:

“The streets of Sokoto have spoken. In their numbers, the people came out, filling the streets, businesses and surrounding areas all the way to the alternative venue for the flag-off of Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign.

“This happened despite the political intimidation and attempts to frustrate the ADC, including the seizure of the party’s state secretariat by the government, which forced supporters to reclaim access to their political space.

“There is a message in all of this: you can deploy intimidation, manipulate institutions and attempt to suffocate the opposition, but you cannot permanently suppress the will of the people.

“Sokoto is sending a signal, and WE HAVE JUST STARTED!”