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African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has declared that it is not yet time to celebrate.
Reacting to his emergence as the ADC flagbearer in the 2027 presidential election, Atiku urged all the party’s contestants to work together in pulling Nigeria out of the grip of corruption, incompetence and what he described as the polarizing government of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Posting on X, the former Vice President wrote: “I must state at this juncture that this is not the time to celebrate. No one was defeated because we are one party and we all need to recognise the fierce urgency of the moment.
“Therefore, we have to unite, as we pledged before this process, to work to pull our country and our people out of the destructive grip of a corrupt, incompetent and polarising APC government.”
Atiku commended the ADC’s primary election committee for the peaceful outcome of the primaries across the country.
He said: “I thank the primary elections Committee for organising peaceful, free, fair and transparent primaries.
“I thank the various leadership organs of our party, the various stakeholders, and volunteers for their hard work and dedication and all our party members and supporters for their efforts, patience and conduct during the process.”
The former Vice president stressed that hard work is about to begin with the conclusion of the primaries.
“With the primaries behind us, the real hard work is about to begin. We have to prepare to campaign hard to win the next general elections in order to begin the difficult process of rescuing our country and its long-suffering people from this government,” he added.
Former Minister of Transportation and presidential aspirant on the platform of the African Democratic Congress, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, on Tuesday rejected the outcome of the party’s presidential primary, accusing the leadership of disenfranchising members and manipulating the process.
The rejection opens a fresh crisis within the ADC at a critical moment for the opposition party, which has been presenting itself as a credible alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
In a statement posted on X, Amaechi said he was rejecting what he described as ‘concocted results’ following reports of widespread voter disenfranchisement during the primary across the country.
Amaechi said, “I had initially stated that I will only accept the outcome of the Primaries if the process was free, fair, and transparent, and I stand by my word.
“I will not accept results from a process that does not reflect the values that the ADC had pledged to uphold, to rescue Nigerians from the impunity and gross mismanagement that our country is currently facing in the hands of the ruling party.”
The former Rivers State governor alleged that nearly 80 per cent of party members were denied the opportunity to vote during the exercise.
“There’s no way that about eighty percent of members of the party were not allowed to vote, and you expect me to accept such results. Then what makes us different from the others?” he asked.
Amaechi said the ADC was created to give ordinary Nigerians a voice and offer a genuine alternative to the kind of politics it once condemned.
Criticising the party leadership, Amaechi said: “A party that criticizes the ruling APC and INEC for vote buying, rigging and writing of results, cannot be engaged in vote buying, writing of results, and other electoral malpractices that leads to the disenfranchisement of voters who are party members. This is not acceptable!”
The remarks are expected to deepen tensions within the ADC and intensify scrutiny of the party’s presidential primary process as opposition parties prepare for the 2027 general election.
Former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has rejected the results of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential primaries, alleging widespread voter disenfranchisement and electoral malpractice.
Amaechi, in a statement posted on his X handle on Tuesday, described the outcome of the exercise as “concocted results.”
He said he had earlier made it clear that he would only accept the outcome of the primaries if the process was free, fair and transparent.
