Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is maintaining a strong lead in the ongoing presidential primaries of the African Democratic Congress as results from several states place him ahead of his rivals.
Atiku is contesting the party’s presidential ticket alongside former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and economist Mohammed Hayatu-Deen ahead of the 2027 general election.
Results announced at the party’s collation centre at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja showed Atiku dominating in multiple states.
In Kebbi State, Atiku secured 65,523 votes, defeating Amaechi, who polled 5,931 votes, while Hayatu Deen recorded 454 votes.
In Anambra State, Atiku garnered 58,566 votes ahead of Amaechi’s 17,085 votes and Hayatu Deen’s 7,861 votes.
Abia State also went in favour of Atiku with 25,153 votes, while Amaechi scored 18,339 votes and Hayatu Deen secured 2,264 votes.
In Ekiti State, Atiku polled 18,395 votes, while Amaechi received 1,574 votes and Hayatu Deen got 149 votes.
Despite the ongoing collation, the exercise has sparked controversy, with both Amaechi and Hayatu Deen rejecting the credibility of the process over alleged irregularities.
Hayatu Deen announced that he would boycott the official declaration of the results, alleging widespread vote manipulation.
“I will not be attending the announcement of the ADC Presidential Election Results today. I am concerned by reports from across the country of widespread vote rigging, some of which I myself observed, and will therefore be taking advice on my next steps,” he stated on X.
Reacting to the allegation, ADC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi said the party had not seen enough evidence to either confirm or dismiss the claims.
“We don’t have any evidence to be able to support his position or to deny his position because we’ve not collated the results,” Abdullahi said during an interview on Channels Television.
“We’ve not noticed any pattern in the result, and we’ve not seen enough to be able to establish a pattern.
“Eleven states’ results have been received so far. We are still awaiting other results. Any moment from now we are going to start the collation.”
Amaechi had earlier described the results as “concocted” and accused the party of allowing widespread voter disenfranchisement during the primaries.
According to him, the ADC was established to provide Nigerians with a credible political alternative and should not replicate the electoral malpractice it criticises in other parties.
Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission monitored the exercise across the country, while collation of results from additional states continued at the party’s national collation centre in Abuja.
