The Presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election, and other top heavyweight political gladiators were believed to have finally adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in a coalition ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
In the talks at an all-night meeting between Tuesday and Wednesday (today, May 21), which culminated into the adoption of ADC as a common political platform to face the current President, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), according to sources, were the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, former Governor of Rivers State who later became Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and former Governor of Osun State who also became Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
One of the sources hinted that the political grouping did not adopt the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to which some of its prominent members had earlier switched, including el-Rufai, because the rules of the adopted ADC are easy to achieve.
“You know virtually all of these people are still in one party or the other. And this is less than two years before the 2027 general election.
“So they are being careful so that no legal entanglement will stop those who are eventually going to fly the flag of the coalition.
“All the parameters were considered before settling for ADC,” one of the sources reasoned.
On what may become a source of crisis over the presidential candidate, one of the sources at the meeting said that the issue did not come up at the marathon meeting.
On the issue regarding whether Abubakar, a former vice president, would step down for Obi, the source said that the stage at which the talks are currently is for the coalition to be solidified and that those who now have interest in seeking elective offices would go through some processes.
The source revealed that the focus of the coalition goes beyond the struggle for power.
“Whether Atiku or Peter Obi or el-Rufai, none of them is talking about who the president or vice president will be.
“Their singular focus is to get the APC and Tinubu out of power.
“When the time comes, they all will go through the process put in place by the ADC for the 2027 elections.
“It is not by fiat.
“What people are saying is far from the truth.
“The truth is that no decision has been taken and no candidate can force himself on the coalition as presidential candidate.
“So also has the talk about sharing political offices never come up at any of the meetings of the coalition.
“It is the people out there doing their permutation alongside the individuals within the coalition.
“The talks are ongoing.”
Source: The Eagle online.
