Atiku Wins ADC Presidential Contest, Vows Accountable Leadership
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday became the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate after winning the party’s nationwide direct primary. In his acceptance speech, he...
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday became the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate after winning the party’s nationwide direct primary. In his acceptance speech, he promised Nigerians an era of accountable leadership.
The primary was held across Nigeria’s 8,809 wards to choose the party’s presidential candidate from three contenders: former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and former banker and economist Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.
The outcome of the exercise was announced on Wednesday at the national collation centre, located at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, by the chairman of the electoral committee and returning officer, Brigadier General Tunde Ogbeha (Rtd), and a former Senator.
Senator Ogbeha declared that Atiku secured 1,846,370 votes to defeat former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who polled 594,117 votes, while Mohammed Hayatu-Deen got 177,120 votes.
Only former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was present at the collation centre, while Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen were absent after raising concerns about irregularities during the results collation. Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen rejected the outcome and accused party officials of undermining the credibility of the election through alleged irregularities.
However, the ADC leadership defended the conduct of the primary, insisting that the shortcomings recorded were not enough to invalidate the exercise. The ADC National Chairman, David Mark, while speaking at the official declaration ceremony, appealed to aggrieved aspirants to remain committed to the party despite their reservations over the outcome.
Mark acknowledged that the primary election experienced logistical and administrative difficulties but maintained that the process remained transparent, credible and democratic.
“I do not claim that what we have done is perfect. I admit that there is room for improvement. However, I do not think that the observable shortcomings are sufficient to invalidate the exercise or to discredit the entire process,” Mark stated, while accepting responsibility for the perceived shortcomings.
He said the party had accepted responsibility for lapses recorded during the election and commended the three aspirants for participating peacefully in what he described as a competitive democratic process.
According to him, the ADC distinguished itself by allowing a genuinely competitive contest rather than imposing a predetermined candidate on party members.
“We did not work towards a predetermined outcome. We allowed a free contest. We allowed our members across Nigeria to make their choice,” he added.
Following his declaration as winner, Atiku thanked delegates and members of the party for the confidence reposed in him, describing the victory as a collective achievement for opposition politics and democratic development in the country. He called on members to remain united ahead of the 2027 general election.
“He spoke further: I wish to express my profound appreciation for the privilege which you have bestowed on me, of leading our great party, the African Democratic Congress, into the next elections as its presidential candidate. I am truly humbled and excited by this singular honour.
“We demonstrated that while democracy is being strangled and squashed by the ruling party and its oppressive and anti-democratic government, democracy is alive and well in the African Democratic Congress. In our party, members are allowed to express their views, to have ambitions and to contest for elective positions in a free, fair, and transparent process.
“Our great party is a coalition built through hard work, immense sacrifices and compromises, guided by our determination to rescue our country’s democracy, which is facing its greatest threat since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
“As I speak, virtually all opposition political parties in the country have a leadership crisis engineered by the APC government, the INEC and elements in the judiciary. And opposition figures continue to be harassed and intimidated, including those languishing in detention, such as Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, who distinguished himself as a public servant, including as a minister and two-term governor of Kaduna State.
“He has been in detention for three months despite court orders granting him bail. He has been denied the right to celebrate two important religious holidays with his family, in addition to being denied the opportunity to be by his mother’s side as she took her last breath. All because he is a leading opposition figure!
“This kind of cruelty must stop.
“The government continues to harass, intimidate and coerce opposition politicians to join the APC using the security agencies, as well as the agencies which were set up by a previous government to fight corruption. Under this government, once a person joins the APC, the harassment ceases, and the charges against them magically disappear. This abuse of power must stop.
“Great care was taken to ensure that due diligence was done in the process of forming this coalition. Yet the government and the INEC continue to undermine it, even trying to deregister it. Let me warn that any further attempt to interfere in the affairs of the party by the presidency, INEC and judiciary will be fiercely resisted. Enough is enough.
“I congratulate my fellow contestants for this ticket to represent our great party in the elections scheduled for early next year. I know that you are driven by your patriotism and commitment to a better Nigeria and improved life for our people. I know that, like me, you are deeply concerned about the rapid descent of our country into economic disaster, catastrophic insecurity, extreme nepotism, political intolerance, and the drive towards a one-party state by the current government and its party.
“I thank you for your healthy participation in this democratic process. 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.
“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.
“With the primaries behind us, the hard work is about to begin. We have to prepare to campaign hard to win the next general elections to begin the difficult process of rescuing our country and its long-suffering people from this government.
“We will be guided by clear national plans with set targets and timelines in line with commitments enshrined in our party’s manifesto. We will provide clear leadership that will empower our states to competitively attain the potential of meeting the expectations of citizens. That will include working with them to guarantee well-outlined minimum standards of welfare provision in line with international best standards.
“Ours will be a new era of accountable leadership. We shall prioritise Security, Education, the Economy, Healthcare and the challenge of power- sharing among the constituent units of our country”.
At the close of the exercise, the ADC Chairman, Senator David Mark, formally presented the party’s flag to Atiku Abubakar as the party’s candidate for the 2027 presidential election.
This is another presidential bid for Atiku, who ran under the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 and 2023 elections.
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