The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has resorted to direct primary election to elect its candidate for next year’s presidential election after failure to broker truce among the three presidential aspirants.

The aspirants former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and former Managing Director of FSB International Bank, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, who have obtained ADC presidential nomination forms, according to party sources, rejected consensus proposal by the ADC leadership to choose one among them.

Unlike other major political parties that zoned its presidential ticket for 2027 to Southern part of Nigeria, ADC has thrown its ticket open to any qualified Nigerian.

The three aspirants were screened and cleared last Wednesday by a committee headed by former Cross River State Governor, Liyel Imoke.

The Electoral Act, 2026 (as amended), approved only two methods Consensus and Direct Primaries – for registered political parties to elect their candidates for the 2027 general elections.

Party sources told Sunday Telegraph that the ADC National Chairman, Senator David Mark, made two attempts to prevail on the aspirants to agree on consensus arrangement but failed.

According to him: “They have met twice with the National Chairman, Senator David Mark, who appealed to them to accept consensus, which does not appear to go down well with them.

“He has told them to interact among themselves, which has also not achieved the purpose. “So, I think the party is set for direct primaries.” ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, confirmed to Sunday Telegraph that the party will hold direct primaries to elect its presidential candidate.

“We are not holding national convention. We are going for direct primaries. Thereafter the NEC (National Executive Committee) will hold on May 30 to ratify the results,” Abdullahi disclosed in an interview.

Amaechi had earlier insisted on direct primary election, except if he would be chosen as consensus candidate “But if it’s not me, I’m going for primary election,” he told journalists after returning his nomination forms.

The party has appointed former Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, to conduct the presidential primary election, while Prof. Yisa Gana serves as Secretary. Other members of the committee are Maj.-Gen. Adamu Jalingo, Dr Auwalu Anwar, Chief Emenike Ikechi, Dr. Macaulay Iyare, Tajudeen Bakare, Elder Ubolo Itodo Okpanachi, Zainab Buba Galadima, Uzoamaka Onyeama, and Maj.-Gen Muhammad Inuwa Idris.

ADC has fixed Monday, May 25 for the primary election. The aspirants are upbeat of their chances to win the party’s sole ticket, and incidentally, they are not unfamiliar with presidential contest.

In 2022, they campaigned to fly their respective political parties flags. While Hayatu-Deen withdrew from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primaries, citing “monetization of the process,” Amaechi came second in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary election that produced President Bola Tinubu as the party’s candidate.

Atiku, who later became the PDP candidate, is the only one among them who was on the ballot in the 2023 presidential election. Amaechi, while speaking to journalists, bragged about his experience, and urged ADC to consider experience and capacity in choosing its presidential candidate.

“I am young, I am the most experienced, and I believe I have the capacity. That is as it pertains to the country. Go back to Rivers State and see what I have done. Go back to Ministry of Transportation and see what I have done, and assess it and see whether I can turn the country around.

And I will, in four years, turn the country around,” Amaechi boasted. He also advised Nigerians to vote for merit, but not religion or region, adding, “It is, ‘it is our turn’, that brought us here.

“It is the turn of Nigerians because you see there is no market for Christians, neither is there a market for Muslims or a market for northerners or southerners. “Nigerians are suffering.

The current president has put us in this suffering. I don’t know why he wants to run. I don’t even know why APC wants to participate. They should be in shame and allow other Nigerians to participate and change the country,” he stated. Hayatu-Deen seems to be the only aspirant with visible media presence.

The former Managing Director of the FSB International Bank has held various town hall meetings and appeared on many television programmes, to sell his programmes. His campaign mantra is job creation and economic development, insecurity, accountability, and public trust.

The aspirant, in a tweet two days ago, challenged Atiku and Amaechi to commit to ADC’s Governance Principles and Code of Ethics, known as The Orange Book, which he said, represents a binding ethical covenant that rejects self serving politics and places service to the Nigerian people at the centre of public office.