The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Dumebi Kachikwu, has accused former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of masterminding a deliberate plan to seize control of the party to further his 2027 presidential ambition.
In June, prominent opposition leaders—including Abubakar; Peter Obi, Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in 2023; former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai; and former transportation minister Rotimi Amaechi—announced the formation of a coalition under the ADC as their platform for the 2027 elections.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday, Kachikwu alleged that the former vice-president, alongside a group of mostly retired political figures, had used deceit to draw Obi and the ADC leadership into the coalition. He claimed Obi is under pressure to accept the role of Abubakar’s running mate and that Atiku’s allies have been strategically placed in the party’s leadership structure nationwide to ensure full control.
He further stated that, despite professing ties to the south, the former vice-president does not believe any southerner should be president. “I had warned that a group of mostly old former political officeholders were executing a carefully orchestrated agenda to take over the ADC to prosecute Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambition come 2027,” he said.
“I also warned that Peter Obi and other presidential hopefuls in this coalition of geriatrics were being duped, as Atiku’s men had been carefully positioned to take over the ADC party structure across the country.
“Today I have been proven right, as former governor Obi and his people now realise that this coalition is indeed a one-man power grab.
“Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a man who claims affinity and friendship with the south does not believe any southerner deserves to be president of Nigeria.
“Former Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan are alive to attest to this uncomfortable truth. In their desperation to hijack the ADC, they deliberately perpetrated fraud, of which I now present evidence to you today.”
Kachikwu also accused Atiku’s allies of spreading divisive narratives, portraying President Bola Tinubu as anti-north and undermining southern presidential hopefuls. “Atiku Abubakar and a few northern elites who have for decades held political power but did nothing to alleviate the undereducation and attendant impoverishment in northern Nigeria for political purposes are at it again,” Kachikwu added.
“They have armed the weapons of region, religion, tongue, tribe and poverty as they convince millions of poor northerners that a southern President Tinubu hates them and is the cause of their poverty.”
He presented alleged evidence of forged signatures of ADC state chairmen on court documents, used to support Ralph Nwosu’s contested claim to the party’s chairmanship. He also criticised the appointment of former Senate President David Mark as ADC chairman, calling it a “fraud perpetrated in broad daylight”.
“To use the ADC, they needed to free it of all legal encumbrances, such as those challenging Ralph Nwosu’s fraudulent claim to the chairmanship of the party, and so they forged signatures of some of the chairmen who were not interested in the sale of the party and presented it to the court as terms of settlement, which the Court of Appeal adopted as judgement,” he said.
“I have here copies of said judgement and international passport copies of the chairmen whose signatures were forged; ladies and gentlemen of the press, please compare the signature specimens.
“Our lawyers have dispatched petitions to the appropriate law enforcement agencies on this. As if this was not bad enough, we all watched almost two months ago the comedic performance of Ralph Nwosu as he anointed David Mark as chairman of the ADC and at the same time presented him with a membership card of our party.
“I again warned Nigerians that this was fraud being perpetrated in broad daylight, as Nwosu had no legal mandate to anoint or appoint a chairman for our party.”