The three presidential aspirants of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), may adopt a consensus option in choosing the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
The ADC spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, dropped the hint when he featured in a live X open space discussion monitored by THE WHISTLER on Saturday.
Abdullahi said, “Yes, I have had discussions with Atiku, Obi and Amaechi and none of them is opposed to the idea of picking the party’s presidential candidate through the consensus option.”
So far, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi and former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi are the three contestants for the ADC ticket.
According to him, discussions with the aspirants centred on the need to strengthen unity, focus and shared commitment that will guarantee the party’s victory in the 2027 elections.
“I spent time talking to His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rotimi Amaechi who have indicated interest in vying for the presidential ticket of our party, as well as the likes of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.
“We discussed the need to strengthen our party and unite it, and the general consensus seems to be that we have a job to do to make this country a better place.
“Our leaders are all aware of the task ahead and everyone of them is committed to ensuring that we win this election.”
The ADC spokesman however, cautioned supporters of the three presidential aspirants on stop preaching exceptionalism on the social media space ahead of the primaries coming up in June this year.
“If you insist it must be your choice aspirant or nobody else, then how do you get people outside your support base to support candidate if he wins the primaries.
“Assuming you said it must be Peter Obi or nobody else, then how do you convince people from say Sokoto to support him after you have taken such exceptionalist position?
“Let me also say this; those supporting this divisiveness among supporters of any of the aspirants should stop what they are doing because they are clearly working to the advantage of the APC and President Bola Tinubu.
“Saying it is either this candidate or nothing is not helpful because getting the ticket alone means nothing. What is important is winning the election and we cannot carry this divisiveness and expect to win.
“We believe that all our aspirants are eminently qualified and vilifying anybody or any region is not helpful and will make it more difficult. We are going to commence the process of straightening and having our leaders speak unity amongst themselves.
“We are going to ignore people cresting exceptionalism and we are going to focus on what we are doing because we want to win this elections.
“Those shouting Peter Obi or nothing are equally not helping him. They are preaching division and they are not selling him. They are not providing the room for people to support him from other places. They should stop making other people to take hard stances because everyone needs to be on board for us to win this election.”
Abdullahi further reiterated the position that the party would love to have its candidate emerge through consensus, saying it’s far less divisive than primaries.
On the ongoing debate on the call for holding the elections in November 2026, instead of February 2027, the spokesman said doing so will offer a double-edged sword.
According to him, the time constraint would leave the ADC and other opposition parties struggling with time to heal wounds arising from the nomination processes.
He said on the other hand, holding the elections earlier would work in the interest of the ADC, “because Nigerians are tired of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.”
He said, “Whether the elections take place this year or next year, it will be a double work for us and also work against us. It will work against us because as an opposition, we need time to heal wounds that may arise from our primaries.
“We cannot afford to go into a bruised primaries and quickly put ourselves together for the elections. So on that note, we prefer next year. But in all of this, we are not in a position to decide when that election should hold and that is the truth.