The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the Atiku Abubakar–Peter Obi question ahead of the 2027 presidential election as a “conundrum” and a “challenge” for the party.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Friday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said while the issue is significant, the ADC is currently concentrating on strengthening its presence across Nigeria rather than immediately picking a presidential candidate.
“I may not describe the situation in such superlative terms to say that it’s the greatest threat to democracy at the moment. But is it a conundrum? Yes. Is it a challenge? Yes. Is it something we are concerned about? Yes,” Abdullahi said.
He added, “Nobody in the ADC at this time is having conversation about who the presidential candidates will be. So we have so much work to do – to establish our presence, real presence; to be in a position to contest election in all the 36 states of the Federation and FCT.”
On how the party intends to handle the presidential contest, Abdullahi said consensus would be the preferred approach.
“The most important thing is at this time, when we get to that point, we try to engineer consensus – a consensus, which is an option for us, but if we are not able to do a consensus, then we’ll possibly just open it up for everyone to contest,” he said.
He also emphasised that the contest is not solely about Atiku or Obi, noting that other aspirants have expressed interest.
“There are other people who are also interested in contesting the presidential race. So we have to make allowance for that. It’s not a central case between Atiku and Peter Obi,” he added.
Abdullahi further disclosed that the ADC is exploring discussions with other political parties to form a stronger coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
