Bolaji Abdullahi, the spokesperson for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition, says the party has no favourite or preferred candidate and it is not built to further the ambition of any politician, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra governor, Peter Obi.

“The ADC is not built for anybody’s ambition. The ADC is a party determined to give a different trajectory to Nigerian politics,” Mr Abubakar told journalists on Saturday.

The ADC spokesperson said, “We don’t have any predetermined agenda, we don’t have any favourites or candidates. Nobody has had a discussion about who will be the party’s flagbearer.”

This comes about a month after opposition politicians adopted the ADC as their official party to contest the 2027 election against President Bola Tinubu.

Popular political figures, Messrs Abubakar and Obi, have indicated interest in the coalition to defeat Mr Tinubu in 2027.

The duo came second and third, respectively, in the last election won by Mr Tinubu, according to official results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). 

Mr Abubakar has contested the presidency six times: in 1993, he contested on the Social Democratic Party (SDP) platform; and in 2007, he contested on the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) platform, losing to Umar Ya’adua of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He challenged former President Goodluck Jonathan in the PDP’s primaries in 2011 and lost. After joining the APC in 2014 ahead of the 2015 election, Mr Abubakar lost the presidential primaries to Muhammadu Buhari.

The politician returned to the PDP in 2017 and lost the presidential election to Mr Buhari of the APC in 2019. He contested alongside Mr Tinubu in 2023 and also lost.