The insistence of former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to contest the 2027 presidential ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is ruffling feathers in the party.
The former vice president, told BBC Hausa Service that he would seek the ADC ticket and will only step down “if a young candidate were to emerge through a competitive primary.”
Party sources told Sunday Telegraph that his insistence was a breach of the gentleman’s agreement on rotational presidency between North and South.
Both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have zoned their tickets for the 2027 to the South.
The source said he had expected the ADC to toe the same path since the late President Muhammadu Buhari, who handed over to President Bola Tinubu in 2023, was from the North, and had served for eight years.
“We expected ADC to zone the presidential ticket to the South like the APC and the ADC. Throwing it open will cause disaffection. The South will feel betrayed,” he argued.
The two front runners linked to the ADC ticket from the South are, candidate of Labour Party in 2023, Mr. Peter Obi, and former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.
At the first ADC National Caucus meeting two weeks ago, all the presidential aspirants agreed to support whoever emerged as the presidential candidate.
But the source said Atiku is favoured to pick the ticket if thrown open.
“We have followed how Atiku won PDP ticket in 2018 and 2022; the primaries were heavily monitised. I don’t see Obi or Amaechi out spending Atiku at ADC convention. It is a bobby trap for Obi, and I don’t think he will fall into it.”
The Obidient Movement, Obi’s support base, has also kicked against the ADC’s open contest.
National Coordinator of the movement, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, said Obi will not contest, “a primary election where he has to buy out the delegates. We know that is the norm in other camps.
“It is a fact that in Nigeria of today, delegates in every primary are being purchased.
“It is even in dollars and not naira. And for those of us who want to give hope to the younger generation, who may not have stolen or receive so much money from governors’ purse, how do you encourage them?”
Obi, who was Atiku’s running mate in 2019 presidential election, had said he would not go into primary contest with the former vice president, because of the privilege he gave to him to run with him.
A reliable source close to the former Anambra State governor disclosed that he might enter into discussions with PDP after the party’s National Convention next month.
Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, and former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, had said at different fora that the party was wooing Obi to contest 2027 presidential election on the PDP platform.
The source, however said if Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, had upper hand in the convention, Obi may move to another platform.
According to him, about three governors who wanted to join ADC had put a stop to it over Atiku’s reluctance to allow the South to complete its tenure.
In fact, it was gathered that Obi may have decided to quit the ADC .
The ADC is a coalition formed by opposition figures to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling party at the centre, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Competent sources around Obi, told Sunday Telegraph that Obi has refused to accept the terms of the ADC leadership on a presidential primaries to determine the candidate of the party in 2027. The primary election is expected to hold in 2026.
Obi, particularly had insisted that he would not go into a contest with Atiku, whom he refers to as ‘my Boss’.
It was gathered that the insistence of Atiku on running for the 2027 election and the throwing open of the ticket by the party are the reasons Obi decided to move out from coalition.
Obi had told his Obidient Movement members that he would be on the ballot in 2027.
A source close to Obi told this newspaper: “ Forget the ADC for now. The party did not zone its ticket to the South. Obi has ruled that one out. You know he won’t go to primary election against Atiku. That is the first point. The second is that Obi would not be happy either way, assuming he goes into the primaries. Whether he wins or loses it, he won’t be satisfied, when it involves Atiku. So, since the ADC did not zone the ticket to the South and insisted on primaries, he would not be part of it. He can’t take that risk. You also know that by the provisions of the Electoral Act, once he participates in ADC primaries, he can’t go to another party. That is the problem. Since ADC is not zoning its ticket to the South like APC and PDP, Obi is not taking that risk.”
The source disclosed that Obi might wait until November 17 to know how the PDP convention goes before making up his mind on the way to go. He said all possibilities were on the cards, including going into a new party entirely.
He said: “For now, he is waiting to see how the PDP convention would go. If PDP produces a stable leadership, he can have discussion with them. But if the Wike(Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT) camp scatters the Convention and the right leadership was not elected, it means he would see other platforms or 2027.”
