2027: No Automatic Ticket For Atiku, Obi, Says ADC 

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has made it clear that there is no automatic presidential ticket for any aspirant in 2027.

The party stated that while the consensus option would be adopted in selecting the standard bearer, members would resort to an open, competitive, and transparent primary if the consensus option fails.

ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, who spoke on national television, noted the growing speculation, intrigues, coalition negotiations, and the defection of prominent politicians from other parties to the ADC.

However, he said that no decision has been taken on who will fly the presidential ticket, adding that all aspirants are eligible.

Abdullahi stressed: “No conversation is going on at the moment about who will be the standard bearer or who will be running mate to who. Every single issue has not been resolved regarding who will fly the flag of the party in 2027.”

Already, two chieftains, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, who joined the party last week, are believed to be eyeing the ticket.

Although the Atiku camp has maintained silence on his ambition, members of the Obedient Movement, who are Obi’s followers, declared yesterday that he would not play second fiddle.

The Obidient Movement’s National Coordinator, Dr. Yinusa Tanko, said Obi is the leading aspirant who will never accept to be running mate to anybody in the party.

The Publicity Secretary said that when the time comes, the first option would be consensus, driven by the need to build a broad-based and winning coalition.

He added: “But when that time comes, we are going to have a position, and our first recourse will be to try to engineer a measure of consensus based on the challenges that we have ahead of us. We are building a coalition, and we are building a winning coalition.”

Abdullahi said if consensus proves impossible, the party would not hesitate to conduct a primary that meets democratic standards.

He said: “If that doesn’t happen, of course, we are going to have competitive primary, and it’s going to be free, it’s going to be open, and it’s going to be transparent, and every Nigerian will see that this is the direction that ADC wants to go, as a party of rules, as a party that is transparent, that obeys its own laws and regulation.”

Presidential Adviser on Policy Communication Daniel Bwala and Tanko expressed contrasting views on the Obi’s chances.

While Tanko insisted that the former governor would not accept the offer of running mate, Bwala predicted that the ticket and the running mate slot would elude him.

The presidential aide added that the former governor would eventually contest for president on another platform.

Obi, who ran on the platform of the crisis-ridden Labour Party (LP) in 2023, defected to the ADC last week.

Justifying the defection in Enugu, where he was received into the party by the Interim National Chairman, Senator David Mark, he explained that he was motivated by the quest for national unity.

In its reaction, the Anambra LP said his exit would not weaken the chapter, adding that members would not also miss him.

THE NATION NEWSPAPER