Chukwuemeka Nwajuba: Nigeria Is Being Run Like A Cartel, Not A Government 

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajuba, has declared his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of consolidating power to take control of national patrimony and preside over “gross incompetence in governance”.

Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday, Nwajuba said his decision to enter the race was driven by what he called the urgency of the political moment, insisting that 2026 marked the point at which serious political parties must mobilise for elections.

“This is exactly where you should be. I declared to run for this office because we’ve come into 2026, the ADC is ready, the coalition has come into the ADC and the party is now set. A political party is not a social club. Political parties run elections, and that is the first order of business this year,” he said.

Nwajuba accused the APC of aggressively absorbing political actors to entrench control over national resources.

“We have an APC that is collating governors, collating elected representatives, collating those who have been made because they want to sequester the national patrimony,” he said.

He argued that the ADC’s strategy was to mobilise Nigerians seeking change by building party structures and encouraging mass registration.

“This is the time to remind all of our supporters and people who want a change in this madness that is going on now called governance. Anybody who is remotely interested needs to come with their entire team,” he said.

Addressing criticism that the opposition was recycling familiar political faces, Nwajuba said the party was seeking a balance of experience, education and energy.

“Some people complain that all the faces they see are old throwbacks. They want somebody who has the three Es: experience, education and energy, mixed with wisdom and strength of age, culminating in a central figure just slightly below 60,” he said.

Responding to questions about competition within the ADC, Nwajuba dismissed the idea of political heavyweights while acknowledging the presence of prominent figures within the party.

“I don’t consider anybody a political heavyweight right now because everybody has just abandoned wherever they were to come to this new field,” he said.

“There are very important men and women in the ADC right now—people who have held public office, people who have had public trust. People like Atiku Abubakar. When he ran the privatisation scheme in Nigeria, it was decent. When others took it over, it wasn’t.”

Nwajuba also referenced figures including Rotimi Amaechi, Peter Obi, Dele Momodu, Nasir el-Rufai and Rauf Aregbesola, stressing that his ambition was not to dominate the field.

“I don’t want to break through the field. I want to bring in more substance—more younger persons. The future belongs to us,” he said.

On the possibility of stepping aside for a stronger opposition candidate, Nwajuba said politics was about governing, not activism.

“I’m not a political activist. I’m a politician. We do this for the purpose of running a government and getting people’s lives working better,” he said.

He launched a blistering attack on the current administration’s economic management, particularly subsidy removal and public spending priorities.

“Who removes subsidy today and the next morning takes a loan to buy a yacht, renovate a vice-presidential house that is not lived in, travel abroad? This is not government. This is cartel behaviour,” he said.

Nwajuba clarified that his criticism was focused on incompetence rather than corruption.

“I’m not talking about thievery. I’m talking about gross incompetence. This is the first time in Nigeria’s history that three bodies have been merged and we are asked to rule,” he said.

Defending his record as Minister of State for Education and former Chairman of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Nwajuba said his tenure prioritised transparency and decentralisation.

“No university had hit half a billion naira before we came. We moved allocations straight to one billion naira for federal universities. It was unprecedented,” he said.

He added, “We needed to move power back to the universities and let them take decisions about how to run their institutions.”

Nwajuba said reforms under his watch reduced out-of-school children and restored curriculum standards.

“We reviewed everything that had been done. History was restored. We engaged all universities and schools. We reduced out-of-school children from 13 million to 10 million,” he said.

On economic policy, Nwajuba criticised the removal of fuel subsidy without domestic refining capacity in place.

“Subsidy is essentially an exchange-rate issue. Buhari wanted the Dangote refinery to start before subsidy removal so Nigerians would buy fuel at around N400 and receive rebates, not subsidies to importers,” he said.

He argued that the APC had abandoned its founding ideology.

“This capitalist, neo-capitalist wickedness was never the thinking when we conceived the APC. Nigerians must be subsidised. That is the first job of government,” he said.

Nwajuba also questioned the current administration’s budget performance.

“In eight years of the Buhari administration, we had a minimum of 80 per cent budget performance, including during COVID. This government has not performed one budget up to 30 per cent. This is not a government,” he said.

On public trust and leadership renewal, he said early declaration was meant to provide clarity.

“That is why it is good to declare early and state matters early,” he said.

Looking ahead, Nwajuba said the ADC was proposing a collective leadership model.

“We want a collegiate government. A college of leaders where everybody is on the table and takes responsibility,” he said.