79-year-old Nigeria’s former vice president Atiku Abubakar has been announced as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress for the 2027 elections after “winning” the party’s disputed presidential primary election.
He was said to have defeated ex-Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and business tycoon Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.
The outcome of the primary, which Amaechi had denounced as “concorted results;” was made public on Wednesday night through a statement released on the ADC’s official X account.
Mr- Mohammed had also rejected the outcome.
“Atiku defeats Amaechi, Hayatudeen to secure ADC Presidential Ticket.
“Final result: Atiku 1,855,787, Amaechi 509,397, Hayatudeen 180,903. Total votes cast in the election: 2,546,457. Total party membership for the election: 3,113,599. Congratulations to Waziri Atiku,” the statement said.
The final figures showed Atiku maintaining a dominant lead throughout the contest, polling more than 1.8 million votes.
According to the official results, Amaechi finished in second place with 509,397 votes, while Hayatu-Deen garnered 180,903 votes.
Atiku’s victory margin stood at 1,346,390 votes ahead of Amaechi and 1,674,884 votes ahead of Hayatu-Deen, cementing his emergence as the ADC’s standard-bearer for the next presidential election.
In his acceptance speech, Atiku commended the party for demonstrating that democracy is alive in the ADC.
“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.
Despite the controversy the primary generated, ADC National Chairman, 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.
Mr. Abubakar, who would be 80 on election day, ran unsuccessfully for President of Nigeria six times, in 1993, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023.