March 22, (THEWILL) — A wave of realignment looms in the African Democratic Congress, ADC, following the expected entry of a former Governor of Kano State and leader of the factionalised New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPC, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso into the party in the coming days. Coming after the March 12, 2025, defection of nine Senators and six members of the House of Representatives to the party, the move would further boost the prestige of the party as the major opposition in the country and set the stage for the former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi and Kwankwaso, to open discussions and close ranks on their presidential aspiration, THEWILL has learnt.
The 15 federal lawmakers who defected from their troubled parties, namely, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Labour Party and the Young Progressive Party, YPP, were Senators Augustine Akobundu (Abia), Victor Umeh and Tony Nwoye (Anambra), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Binos Yaroe (Adamawa), Lawal Usman (Kaduna), Ogoshi Onawo (Nasarawa State) and Ireti Kingibe (FCT).
The defection of Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe from the All Progressives Grand Alliance to the ADC has become a subject of contention in the Senate because the leadership of the Upper Chamber maintains that the defection lacked basis as APGA was free from crisis.
In protest, Senator Abaribe disclosed that he had been sacked by the party since September 2025 with a letter as proof. However, the Senate is in recess. Representatives who defected to the ADC include Afam Ogene, Peter Aniekwe and Lilian Orogbu (Anambra). Others are Jesse Onakalusi (Lagos) and Murphy Omoruyi (Edo), all of the LP. Added to the list of defectors is Peter Uzokwe of the YPP, (Anambra).
Kwankwaso’s eventual arrival in the ADC would bring the three main opposition presidential candidates in the 2023 general election under one roof. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was the candidate of the PDP, while Obi and Kwankwaso were candidates of the LP and NNPP, respectively.
OBI/KWANKWASO MOVE
According to party sources, the Obi/Kwankwaso potential presidential ticket, which is being canvassed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has been boosted by recent political developments, such as the defection of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano from NNPP to the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, thereby presenting ADC as the alternative choice destination for Kwankwaso ahead of 2027 politics, as well as Obi’s decisive membership registration for ADC on March 7, 2025.
Other factors that party sources say are paving the way for the Obi/Kwankwaso collabo include the mode of electing candidates at the party primaries as spelt out in Section 84 (2) of the Electoral Act 2026, which states that the procedure for nominating candidates by political parties for elective positions shall be by direct primaries or consensus; the party’s ongoing membership registration; the neutrality of members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party and structure of the duo.
According to sources, the NWC of the party, particularly the National Chairman, Senator David Mark, have remained neutral towards all presidential aspirants on the platform of the party both as a way to manage its internal crisis and allow members to play a key role in deciding crucial matters towards its consolidation.
For the party, which had ruled out zoning of the party ticket from day one, the compressed electoral timelines by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and provisions in the Electoral Act 2026 governing the conduct of primary and submission of digital membership register by April 21, 2027, have combined to support the idea to give a level playing field to all aspirants.
In the event, all presidential aspirants, particularly, former Vice President Abubakar, Obi and ex-Transportation Minister, Rotimi Ameachi, are exploring the consensus option to emerge as candidates of the party. Should this alternative fail, according to sources, the aspirants will have to go for a competitive primary election in which members will vote for their choice. In the meantime, the presidential aspirants are deploying every strategy in their arsenal to clear any obstacle to their emergence.
“Things are fluid in the party right now as the party expects Kwankwaso in the coming days. That will mean three former presidential candidates in the 2023 general election together in the same party,” a party source told THEWILL at the weekend, adding, “Imagine the calculations and permutations that they would bring to the party ahead of the 2027 poll.”
For Obi, this reality implies that he would have to start seeking alliances to brighten his chances of emerging as the party’s presidential candidate. He expressed doubts about his chances of getting the ADC presidential ticket without a fight.
“I am not guaranteed the ADC ticket, but I’m fighting for it. I fear no one — I’ll campaign anywhere in Nigeria,” he said, while addressing his supporters in Enugu at the weekend. Part of the ‘fighting for it,’ is the move to woo Kwankwaso ahead of the former Kano governor’s move to the party.
In his move to explore the consensus option, Obi is said to have scheduled a Sallah visit to Kwankwaso in Kano at the weekend. During the visit, they are expected to discuss recent political developments enabling the latter’s defection, their cooperation and then tie the loose ends in their attempts to forge an alliance since the 2023 general election.
Ongoing processes within the party, such as membership registration and their respective political structures, favour the possibility of their working together, sources say.
With his Kwankwasiyya movement, Kwankwaso still maintains a cult-like followership beyond Kano. But without a platform, its membership would be open to easy pickings by the APC that has made significant inroads into Kano politics with Governor Yusuf’s defection, ahead of 2027. Similarly, Obi’s largely diehard members of the ‘Obidient Movement,’ face a better, brighter future with an expanded platform that a coalition with the Kwankwasiyya movement would provide.
Moreover, the party’s ongoing registration of members is said to have tilted favourably toward the North versus the South, currently, an appeal that further provides the ground for Kwankwaso to defect to the ADC as the move would enhance his dwindling image as one of the erstwhile twinkling stars in the Northern political firmament struggling to shine brighter in the vacant landscape created by President Muhammadu Buhari’s death. Kwankwaso is said to see Abubakar as the major obstacle to his ambition to emerge regional political leader after Buhari.
Obi sees Abubakar as the only obstacle to his 2027 presidential ambition. Hence their plot to seek a coalition to upstage the political juggernaut from Adamawa State.
THE ONE TERM OPTION
A single term in office option being championed by Obi has not pushed his chances any further in the party, according to sources who say that the major problem with his promise is believability.
Believability was the reason some of the party bigwigs wanted to draft former President Goodluck Jonathan into the fray, but the ensuing political pressures and envisaged constitutional obstacles were said to have forced Jonathan to beat a hasty retreat.
Constitutionally, Jonathan’s aspiration is not worth the risk of an opposition party like the ADC that is containing internal crisis and has managed to emerge as the major opposition party following the recent defection of federal lawmakers into its ranks.
According to the amendment to the Fourth Alteration Act (2018) under Presidential & Gubernatorial Limits (Sections 137(3) & 182(3)), which was signed into law on June 8, 2018, by former President Muhammadu Buhari, “A person sworn in to complete a partial term of a president or governor is restricted from being elected to that same office more than once.” Constitutional scholars are divided on the law as it applies to Dr. Jonathan. Some argue that the law can only be applied prospectively, which would clear the path for the former president to run. The other half argue that the law is applicable retrospectively, hence barring Jonathan from contesting.
Ex-President Jonathan was sworn-into office on May 16, 2010, to complete the tenure of the late President Musa Yar’Adua and again on May 29, 2011, when he was re-elected President, effectively preventing him from serving more than two terms in total.
ADC PLANS CONVENTION
Meanwhile the party has fixed dates for its congresses and national convention.
According to the official timetable for its nationwide congresses ahead of the party’s national convention, the polling unit and ward congresses would hold on April 7, followed by local government area congresses on April 9 and state congresses on April 11.
The National Organising Secretary, Mr Chinedu Idigo, and the National Publicity Secretary, Mr Bolaji Abdullahi, said the process would end in the party’s national convention scheduled for April 14. The party advised members interested in contesting vacant positions to obtain and submit the relevant nomination or expression of interest forms through the official ADC website.
They urged members nationwide to participate in the process and conduct themselves in accordance with the constitution, guidelines and democratic values of the ADC.
Sources say the successful conduct of the national convention would settle the current internal crisis within the party.
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
