Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rotimi Amaechi
Presidential candidates from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition will sign an agreement to support whoever is chosen as the party’s presidential candidate.
The contenders have reached an agreement in principle, but they must also define what constitutes a transparent primary election.
This was revealed by Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister of transport and a senior coalition party member.
Senator David Mark, the party’s temporary national chairman, announced on July 8 that the party had no favourite candidate and pledged that under his leadership, the party would be “absolutely transparent.”
Mark made the clarification following posturing by top members of the coalition for the party’s presidential ticket.
Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, had hinted on his 2027 ambition while receiving a delegation of Gombe stakeholders at his Abuja residence last Saturday.
He subsequently denied attending a meeting where he was pressured to step down for a southern aspirant.
In the same vein, former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in a recent interview, declared his intention to contest the presidency, adding that he had not had dialogue with anyone to be a vice presidential candidate in 2027.
While supporters of both leaders who ran on the same ticket in 2019 have been promoting their principals’ candidatures, particularly on social media, former transportation minister Chibuike Amaechi has also proclaimed his intention to run for president again in 2027 under the ADC banner.
In 2023, he ran against President Bola Tinubu for the APC presidential nomination. He lost. Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, said in an interview that he had no ambition.
However, former ADC presidential candidate Dumebi Kachikwu has asserted that the party’s current leadership aims to transfer its ticket to the North, notably Atiku.
His claim came during a bitter debate about whether power in the centre should remain in the south or be shifted to the north.
This dispute was a crucial component in President Bola Tinubu of the APC’s 2023 presidential election victory, as the party zoned its ticket to the south following ex-president Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year stint in the north.
However, Amaechi stressed that the agreement to support whoever emerges as candidates would be based on a shared view of what a transparent primary means.
The former Rivers State governor said, “What we agreed on in principle, and I must say there is a need to lay the cards on the table – what we agreed on is that whoever emerges from a transparent primary will be supported by everyone.
“But first, we need to sit down and define what we mean by ‘transparent’ because it’s easy for someone to hijack the process and still call it transparent,” he said.
However, ADC’s national publicity secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, stated that he was unaware of such an agreement.
However, the party’s spokesman stated that the party is committed to ensuring an equal playing field for hopefuls.
