ADC: Maduro’s arrest sends warning to illegitimate governments 

This is as the coalition party  also criticised the Nigerian government’s failure to react to the development as other countries and world leaders have done, describing it as “an embarrassment to the country”.

ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement on Monday said while the party supports the “principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations,” they also believed that a  government that holds its national laws in contempt and tramples on the rights of its citizens opens itself up for external interference.

According to the ADC, the move by the United States Government is a clear warning that sends a strong message to the  Nigerian government and  “any other government that lacks legitimacy,” maintaining that international governance doctrines designed to maintain global order “should not be invoked to provide a safe haven for tyranny, electoral fraud, or the systematic denial  of a people’s right to freely choose their leaders.”

ADC noted that it is public knowledge the  2024 Venezuela presidential election was widely condemned “as illegitimate and deeply flawed by nine governments across Latin America, the European Union, and international democratic institutions, all pointing to a process marked  by fraud, repression and  exclusion.

“Political opponents were barred from contesting, peaceful protests were met with violence, state institutions were weaponized against the very citizens they exist to serve. The net consequence of this has been mass migration at a scale that undermines regional stability.

“While the United States intervention raises serious and legitimate questions under international law, one reality cannot be ignored. The visible wave of popular public support that followed within Venezuela speaks to a deeper crisis of legitimacy of the Maduro government.”

ADC said “When citizens pour into the streets in celebration, it reveals more than approval of an intervention, it exposes the bankruptcy of the regime that has been upended.”

The party also said it is embarrassing that  “more than 48 hours after the situation in Venezuela,  the Nigerian government is yet to react in any way. This silence by the APC-led Bola Tinubu administration is a further indication that Nigeria, under President Tinubu, has lost both voice and standing on the international stage.

“At a moment when the world is grappling with the difficult balance between sovereignty, democracy, and accountability,   Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest democracy, is conspicuously absent.”

ADC said apart from the “decline in Nigeria’s global and national standing under this administration, this silence reflects the government’s moral crisis which removes its legimacy to take a principled stand on anything.

“Let’s be clear, that the Nigerian government has chosen silence in this moment has nothing to do with neutrality. It instead, reveals a government that lacks confidence simply because it lacks integrity.”

ADC said, the party stands with the principle that “sovereignty must ultimately reflect the will of the people, not merely the survival of a regime. In Nigeria, in Venezuela, and across the world, democracy must mean more than ballots and electoralism. It must translate to  freedom, fairness, and a happier life for the citizens.

“The ADC believes that the situation in Venezuela is a cautionary tale to all dictators, including the supposedly elected ones, and election riggers everywhere. The world is watching, and contrived mandates will no longer find a place to hide.”