Temporarily serving as secretary-general of his longtime party Congress for the Republic (CPR), in 2012 he went into opposition, founding the Wafa Movement, which he leads as president.

[1] After his release from prison, Ayadi continued to be interrogated frequently, living under constant surveillance from the regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

[5] Following allegations that he had taken "positions contrary to the principles of the party and its decisions, without consultation with the political bureau", Ayadi on 19 April 2012 was dismissed from his official functions.

Ayadi had lauded Samir Geagea's right-wing Lebanese Forces, whose Christian militia was responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees in 1982.

[11] On 25 February 2012, Ayadi declared on Tunisian TV that the first President of Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, had been "hostile to Arab culture and Islam".

[14] In January 2013, Ayadi supported the inscription of legal jihad into the Constitution of Tunisia, allegedly advocating the integration of jihadist fighters into the Tunisian Army.