ADC Is Credible Alternative, Says Utomi as Shadow Cabinet Emerges
Professor Pat Utomi, a renowned political economist, has unveiled a shadow cabinet under the Big Tent Coalition, declaring it a platform to offer credible policy alternatives and back the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a viable opposition to the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government.
Speaking in Abuja after a two-day retreat of the coalition, Utomi said the shadow cabinet will serve as a watchdog, not a rival, to the ruling party.
“There must be alternative views and reviews to help the government move in the right direction,” Utomi said.
Among the newly unveiled shadow cabinet members are Nana Kazaure (Information), Riwang Pam (Security), Nike Omola (Women and Gender Development), and Peter Agada (Infrastructure).
Utomi, who first pitched the idea to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2007, emphasised the need for national strategic thinking.
He criticised the federal government’s current policy direction, citing the coastal highway project as an example of unilateral decision-making and condemned its approach to agriculture: “The sector must move beyond ‘hoes and cutlasses’.”
He also highlighted the limitations placed on legislators, stating: “Legislators were not elected to execute projects, to do otherwise is to make them slaves who go cap in hand begging the executive.”
Utomi called for urgent action on national insecurity and advocated for state policing.
He described the ADC’s emergence as a coalition-based party as a sign of democratic maturity: “The coalition is a work in progress, using value-driven projects to move the country forward.
