Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has emerged as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential candidate for the 2027 General Election.
Atiku was declared winner of the ADC’s Presidential Primary following the conclusion of the results collation which was initially suspended on Tuesday as a result of the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.
At the conclusion of the collation on Wednesday evening, Atiku was declared winner with 1,846,370 votes.
He beat his closest rival, former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi, who polled 504,117 votes.
The third aspirant of the disputed primaries, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, recorded 177,120 votes.
In his acceptance speech, Atiku commended the party for demonstrating that democracy is alive in the ADC.
He however decried the challenges faced by opposition parties and leaders in the country.
“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,” the former Nigerian Vice President said.
In his remark, the National of the party, Sen. David Mark, said that the party allowed a free contest and allowed the members to make their choice.
While admitting to imperfcetions in the course of the election, Mark mainatined that there was room for improvement.
He said each of the aspirants was qualified to lead, but only one person could fly the flag of the ADC.
According to reports, the ADC Presidential primaries took place across Nigeria’s 8,809 wards, with members openly queuing behind their preferred aspirants under the Option A4 voting system.
However, the election was considered flawed by Hayatu-Deen, who alleged vote rigging, and Amaechi, who decried widespread of voters disenfranchisement.