Speaking during an interview with Arise News on Thursday, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party would participate in the 2027 general elections despite its ongoing leadership dispute and legal challenges, insisting that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar would appear on the presidential ballot.
“I can assure you, there will be an election in Nigeria in 2027, ADC will contest that election, and Atiku will be on the ballot,” Abdullahi said.
He dismissed suggestions that the party could lose its opportunity to participate in the elections, maintaining that the legal challenges confronting its leadership would not prevent it from fielding candidates.
ADC Accuses Ruling Party Of Undermining Opposition
Abdullahi described the party’s prolonged legal battles as politically motivated, alleging that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was working to weaken opposition parties ahead of the 2027 elections.
He said the ADC had spent more time in court than building its structures and campaigning, despite making progress since emerging as a coalition in 2025.
“When you say the last couple of days, I can actually say the last couple of months because our party has since the start been burdened by this avalanche of court cases to the extent that I like to say that we spent more time in courts than we’ve spent on the campaign ground or trying to build our party structure,” he said.
According to him, the ruling party’s objective was to discourage opposition parties and create a political environment in which President Bola Tinubu would face no credible challenge in 2027.
“That’s the agenda of the ruling party. So everything you’ve seen since then is not about, it’s not so much about the opposition, it’s about what the ruling party is trying to do to ensure that they don’t have any real challenge here,” Abdullahi said.
He also questioned the role of some judicial officers in the dispute, arguing that the challenges were driven by political interests rather than legal considerations.
Abdullahi Defends ADC Leadership Transition
Addressing the Federal High Court ruling that nullified the party’s National Working Committee led by former Senate President David Mark, Abdullahi maintained that the process through which the coalition took over the party’s leadership complied with its constitutional requirements.
He explained that the ADC amended its constitution to remove the two-year membership requirement for members seeking party positions and the restriction limiting replacement appointments to members from the same geopolitical zone.
He said the amendments were followed by the resignation of members of the existing National Working Committee and the dissolution of the committee at the party’s 99th National Executive Committee meeting in July.
Abdullahi argued that the former Deputy National Chairman, Nafiu Bala, could not claim succession to the chairmanship after the committee on which he served had been dissolved.
He also said Bala attended meetings involving the new leadership and had publicly expressed support for the coalition’s arrival in the party.
Denies ADC Was Created For Atiku’s Presidential Ambition
Reacting to claims that the ADC had become a political project designed to advance Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambition rather than unite opposition figures, Abdullahi said members joined the party for different reasons.
He acknowledged that some members were interested in contesting elections, while others wanted to build a viable political party.
“If eventually after a duly conducted primaries, Atiku Abubakar emerged as the presidential candidate, then it is counterfactual to now come and say, oh, all this was set up for Atiku,” he said.
He maintained that Atiku’s emergence as the party’s presidential candidate did not explain the leadership crisis currently facing the ADC.
Says Nigeria’s Democracy Is At Stake
Abdullahi further argued that the dispute extended beyond the ADC, warning that the handling of the case raised questions about the country’s democratic institutions and judiciary.
He said the conflicting legal positions surrounding the party’s leadership had created uncertainty about which court decisions should be recognised.
“What’s on trial is not just the African Democratic Congress, it’s the very democracy of this country, and the institution of judiciary,” he said.
He called for improvements within the judiciary, questioning how political parties could determine which rulings to obey when faced with conflicting judgments.
Ademide Adebayo
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