2027 Polls: ADC Declares Atiku Winner Of Presidential Primary
The party said Atiku polled 1,846,370 votes to beat his closest rival, Rotimi Amaechi, who polled 504,117 votes.
By Friday Okeregbe May 27, 2026
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been declared the winner of the presidential primary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The party said Atiku polled 1,846,370 votes to beat his closest rival, former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi, who polled 504,117 votes.
It also said businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen got 177,120 votes in the primary.
In his acceptance speech, Atiku commended the party for demonstrating that democracy is alive in the ADC.
He also decried the challenges faced by opposition parties and leaders in the country.
“We demonstrated that while decmocrtacy os being strangled and squashed by its ruling party and its operatives, democracy is alive and well in the African Democratic Congress,” he said.
National of the party, Senator David Mark, said that the party allowed a free contest and allowed the members to make their choice.
He said that though the exercise was not perfect, there was room for improvement.
Mark said each of the aspirants was qualified to lead, but only one person could fly the flag of the ADC.
The battle for the presidential ticket intensified on Monday as Atiku, Amaechi, and Hayatu-Deen squared off in the party’s nationwide direct primary election.
Voting took place across Nigeria’s 8,809 wards, with members openly queuing behind their preferred aspirants under the Option A4 voting system.
But while Atiku lauded the process, the former Rivers governor and Hayatu-Deen faulted the process.
Amaechi, who is a former Minister of Transportation, rejected the outcome, alleging widespread voter disenfranchisement during the exercise.
“Following reports of widespread voter disenfranchisement in most parts of the country during the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Primaries yesterday, I unequivocally reject the concocted results being announced,” he stated on X.
Similarly, Hayatu-Deen said he would not attend the announcement of the party’s presidential primary election results, citing allegations of widespread vote rigging.
“I will not be attending the announcement of the ADC Presidential Election Results today. I am concerned by reports from across the country of widespread vote rigging, some of which I myself observed, and will therefore be taking advice on my next steps,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Atiku and Amaechi joined the ADC in July 2025 along with other opposition figures like former Anambra governor Peter Obi as part of a broader opposition realignment aimed at wresting power from Tinubu and the APC in the 2027 general election.
But Obi defected to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) with a former Kano State governor, Musa Kwankwaso.
Atiku, who has contested for president multiple times, is relying on his national political network and northern influence, while Hayatu-Deen is presenting himself as a technocratic alternative focused on economic reforms and governance.
The result of the primary marks a defining moment for the ADC ahead of the 2027 presidential election as the party seeks to position itself as the main opposition platform capable of challenging President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress.
With the primary concluded, Atiku will fly the ADC’s flag in the 2027 presidential election.
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 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 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.
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 potentials 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.
Security
Every region of this country is gripped by insecurity, the worst kind in our history. Our people are being slaughtered in large numbers and the government has failed to take decisive and effective action to stop it and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The most disturbing is that members of our security forces, including military generals, are being slaughtered wantonly in a manner that can only be embarrassing to our military, which fought to keep the country together and is highly respected in various parts of the world where they distinguished themselves in international assignments. All we have been getting from the government is silence and, on occasion, expression of condolence and empty promises to deal with the murderers.
An ADC government under my leadership will take decisive action to address insecurity and protect lives and property in the country. We shall strengthen the armed forces, the police and other security agencies with massive new recruitment, provision of modern and adequate equipment, training, improved welfare and effective leadership. We shall also ensure accountability and proper coordination and intelligence sharing among all our security agencies.
It is obvious to us in the ADC that we can only secure our country long-term if we educate our young people and create an economy in which they and their families can thrive and help to change Nigeria and the world for the better.
Education
Under the watch of this APC government over 20 million of our school-age children are not in school. This cannot be tolerated in the modern world where education is the surest path to descent employment, wealth creation, national development and enlightened citizenry. We will, therefore, implement free and compulsory education at the primary and secondary levels and invest in leadership, entrepreneurial, technological and innovation skills amongst our teeming youth.
We shall embark on a holistic revival of our educational system by ensuring that staffing, buildings and all infrastructures are in place to make Nigerian youths competitive again. And the welfare of teachers will reflect their critical importance in nurturing the young.
Economy
This APC government has failed woefully on the economy. The poverty gripping our people is at a level that we have never seen in our history. The government brandishes statistics claiming that the economy is growing. But what has really been growing is the ill-gotten wealth of a few in and around the corridors of power while our people have extreme difficulty finding food to eat, paying for transport, medical treatment or their children’s school fees.
We commit to building an economy that benefits all Nigerians. Building an economy that works for Nigerians can only gather momentum when we address our utterly embarrassing and economy-destroying energy crisis. The provision of electricity is a minimum requirement for industrialization, be it in the factory or in the farm, for big business and for small enterprises. We shall remove the various bottlenecks limiting investments in various sectors of our economy in order to attract local and foreign investments that would create jobs and create meaningful growth in our economy. And we shall provide incentives where necessary to promote investment and job creation.
The government promised improved welfare for our people with the removal of fuel subsidy. Needless to say, the savings from subsidy removal has not been accounted for and the economic hardship resulting from the action has been unbearable. To make matters worse, borrowing has become the cornerstone of the economic policy of the APC government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. External borrowing alone has reached 30 billion dollars in the last three years. And the massive amounts being borrowed are given away in contracts to friends and cronies of those in government without competitive bidding and with no pretensions of due process. The future of our younger generation is being mortgaged with no accountability. That has to change and will change under an ADC government.
Healthcare
In the face of glaring healthcare challenges facing the country, we learned recently that the Federal Ministry of Health received only 30 million naira for capital expenditure in the preceding fiscal year. This is clearly a government that doesn’t care about the health of our people. Our ADC government will prioritise healthcare, with emphasis on prevention. Therefore, we will make massive investments in primary healthcare. In addition, we shall properly equip and staff our medical centres of excellence to ensure that our people receive the best specialist care here in Nigeria rather than travel abroad for same. We shall establish more such centres where needed and also incentivise the private sector to establish world class medical facilities across the country to meet the needs of our people.
In the coming weeks and months, we shall be rolling out our platform addressing these priorities and other issues in more details and with clear timelines.
Fellow citizens, where the APC government offers meaningless renewed hope, we will provide renewed action to repair the damage that they have done to our economy and society in the last twelve years of misrule.
My dear friends, we have gone through great challenges to build this coalition. Let us now turn our energies to continuing to build this party as we prepare for the campaign to win the elections and to rescue this country from the current misrule. We have a sacred responsibility to build a party that will stand as a great institution not only in Nigeria but as a great example to the world.
I, therefore, appeal to all those who feel aggrieved to come back to our party and close ranks with the rest of us. I appeal to all those who contested for various positions in our primaries to close ranks with us. In particular, I invite Chief Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Alhaji Mohammed Hayatu-Deen to join me in this fight to save our democracy and our country. As I said previously, there are no winners and no losers. Our people look up to us for leadership. I am ready to lead. I shall work with you all to continue to build our party. I will campaign with you and, if Nigerians give us the mandate, govern with you to build a country that works for all.
Thank you and may God bless you and bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. -AA
naptu2: This same gang kidnapped a popular businessman, Ejike Autos (Ejike Conversion), in Ladipo Market last year and demanded ₦500 million ransom. The incident was reported on Nairaland.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, alongside former Governor of Lagos State Babatunde Raji Fashola, the Lagos APC governorship candidate, and other Muslim faithful, observed the Eid Mubarak prayers at Dodan Barracks in Lagos State. pic.twitter.com/rAY14xh5RH
— Office of the SA on Social Media to PBAT🇳🇬 (@Dolusegun16) May 27, 2026
President Bola Tinubu after the Eid el Mubarak prayers in Lagos.
"We must learn from the lessons of this season and it's to share love with one another, no discrimination.. It is essential that we be tolerant and obedient to the wishes of Allah and the rule of law which must… pic.twitter.com/wrFvHxEE4W
Bola Ahmed Tinubu joined the Muslim faithful to observe the Eid prayer at Dodan Barracks, Obalende, Lagos, as worshippers gathered in large numbers to celebrate the sacred occasion in an atmosphere of peace, unity, and gratitude.
President Bola Tinubu, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, Mr Babatunde Fashola, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and Honourable Mudashiru Obasa pray at Dodan Barracks.
Bayo Onanuga, OON, CON @aonanuga1956
STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE
EID-EL-KABIR: PRESIDENT TINUBU URGES TOLERANCE, GENEROSITY, UNITY AMONG NIGERIANS
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on Nigerians to use the celebration of Eid-el-Kabir to deepen the values of tolerance, generosity, and peaceful coexistence.
He spoke after performing the congregational prayers at Dodan Barracks in Lagos on Wednesday, urging citizens to shun ethnic divisions and all forms of hatred that undermine national unity.
He was joined in the prayers by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, former Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, Oba of Lagos Rilwan Akiolu, Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, and other dignitaries.
President Tinubu said the sacred occasion remains a profound reminder of obedience, sacrifice, love for humanity and total submission to the will of Almighty Allah, as demonstrated by Prophet Ibrahim.
“We thank Almighty Allah for making us witness another year of Eid-el-Kabir. We thank Him for His mercy, and we must learn from this season's lessons, namely, showing love to one another. No discrimination, no ethnicity, no hatred; we should share love and be generous to one another in a way that reflects the values of our country and humanity.
“It is essential that we should be very tolerant and obedient to the wishes of Allah and the rule of law, which must guide our society’’ the President said.
He emphasised that Nigeria’s strength lies in its diversity and common humanity, noting that no ethnic, religious or political difference should outweigh the collective aspiration for peace, progress and national development.
The President urged citizens to reflect on the enduring lessons of the season by showing kindness to one another, supporting the less privileged, and placing greater value on the sanctity of human life, noting that banditry has no place in the holy books.
"Nowhere in the holy teachings does it say you should engage in banditry or take a human life. The sacrifice we speak of, even from the beginning of life, where we take these lessons, teaches us that a child was replaced with an animal. That is the value placed on human life,” the President said.
In his sermon, the Grand Chief Imam of Lagos State, Sheikh Sulaimon Abou-Nolla, emphasised the need for Muslims to fear Allah and promote unity, generosity, and sacrifice in line with the teachings of the Holy Book. He prayed for the President’s continued good health and wisdom, and commended the sacrifices of Nigeria’s past leaders who helped build a united nation.
Bayo Onanuga Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy) May 27, 2026
STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE
EID-EL-KABIR: PRESIDENT TINUBU URGES TOLERANCE, GENEROSITY, UNITY AMONG NIGERIANS
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on Nigerians to use the celebration of Eid-el-Kabir to deepen the values of tolerance, generosity, and peaceful coexistence.
Barrister Amanda Pam called to the Nigerian Bar in 1977, or 1978 she owns a school, Aliyu Mustafa Academy( school was opened in 1984), in Adamawa State. One of the best schools in the state.
Whether the funny people like it or not, I will shine light on everybody and there's nothing they can do to stop me.
They make lots of comments on my threads about Tinubu, Atiku and anyone they don't like, so they must accept that I will also create threads about people they like and there's absolutely nothing they can do about it.
These people became public figures as soon as they decided to get involved in politics and I will create threads about their political activities that float across my timeline.
All this wailing and noise making is just entertainment for me. That's all it is.
Only Sowore can step down as the chairman of a party, & emerge the consensus candidate of the same party. This is his AAC & Sons primary. You can see unsuspecting members of the public. Some of them hid their faces. Are you sure they knew why they were there? 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ToPmtngr4v
Politics › Re: Full Text Of Atiku Abubakar's Acceptance Speech As ADC Presidential Candidate by naptu2(op): 1:22am On May 28*. Modified: 4:30am On May 28
