_Group lauds Nwosu’s 19-year consistency, says ADC now a ‘lifeline’ for Nigerians_
A civic group, Voters Opinion Crew, on Wednesday bestowed its Pillar of Democracy Award on Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu, Founder and Pioneer National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Abuja.
The ceremony, held 24th June, 2026 continues to gain reactions from party members and civil society leaders who hailed Chief Nwosu’s 19-year stewardship of the ADC as a “third force” platform.
In a speech delivered by the group, National Secretary Matthew Denis Otabe and National Coordinator Helen Cyril said the award recognized Nwosu for “refusing to sell the party or your conscience” and for building a platform where “young people, women, and the forgotten can speak and be heard.”
“Our Father in the Democratic Struggle,” the group addressed Nwosu, “when you founded the ADC, many called it a ‘third force experiment.’ Today, we call it a _lifeline_. You gave this country an alternative when the politics of bitterness threatened to divide us.”
Voters Opinion Crew said it had taken Nwosu’s _Arise and Shine_ and _Super Power Transformation_ message “to the streets, markets, campuses, and social media,” adding that “voters are listening” and “Nigerians are tired of recycled promises.”
“They want the _Super Power Transformation_ you speak about — power that works, schools that teach, jobs that pay,” the group said.
Looking ahead to the 2027 elections, the group asked Nwosu for “a clear battle plan.”
“Open the ADC doors wider. Let the people see this party as their own. Empower the grassroots structures. We are ready to mobilize, but we need your fatherly guidance and the tools to win,” the speech read.
The group pledged its “voices, our PVCs, and our energy” to the party’s agenda, declaring: “The handshake must go round Nigeria. The light must shine in every ward.”
“History will remember those who stood when it was easier to sit. You founded ADC not for title, but for duty,” Voters Opinion Crew told Nwosu. “Thank you, Sir. Lead on, and we will follow.”
Accepting the award, Nwosu said the honour was a call to deeper service and dedicated it to “every Nigerian voter who still believes a new Nigeria is possible.”
“The most important one is the transformation of Nigeria. That is my priority,” Nwosu said. “It’s very important for us to understand what is going on. We come to the world with what the future is and what has to change.”
On leadership, he added: “In terms of leadership, I believe that it is among those who work for the people that true leadership emerges.”
Nwosu founded the ADC in 2005 as Alliance for Democratic Change before it became African Democratic Congress. He has championed “handshake politics,” inclusion, and the party’s _Arise and Shine_ agenda.
The Voters Opinion Crew said the award honors Nwosu’s 19 years of “consistency, refusal to compromise the party, and opening political space for young people and women.”
