Many leaders of the African Democratic Congress in the South-West have expressed dissatisfaction with what they described as the marginalisation of the party’s structure in the region by the ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The ADC leaders, including some state chairmen and governorship candidates, alleged that Atiku had been conducting his political activities in the region through his friends and allies, while leaving the party structure sidelined as presidential campaign activities prepared to gather momentum.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that the development was causing disaffection among party members and contributing to the slow pace of campaign activities for Atiku in the region.
The South-West, regarded as a stronghold of President Bola Tinubu, remains an important battleground for Atiku as he seeks to consolidate his political structure.
In the 2023 election, Tinubu won Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo states, while Atiku, then the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, won Osun. Peter Obi of the Labour Party won Lagos.
Our correspondent learnt that the governorship candidates and some other ADC leaders convened a meeting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on September 4, where they formally complained to the party’s National Secretary, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, that Atiku was not carrying them along in his political activities in the region.
At the meeting, the candidates reportedly sought clarification from the ADC national secretariat on whether Atiku was interested in engaging the party structure in his political activities or preferred to deal with his friends and allies.
One of the governorship candidates who attended the meeting told Sunday PUNCH on Thursday that almost all the ADC leaders in the South-West complained about Atiku’s alleged sidelining of the party structure.
The candidate, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said little had changed since they raised their concerns.
He said, “The meeting was hot. We told the national secretariat, through Aregbesola, that Atiku must respect the party structure and channel his campaign through it.
“Many of us at the meeting complained about the sidelining of the party in the South-West by our presidential candidate. We rejected his [Atiku’s] practice of using his friends and loyalists to run political activities that the party should ordinarily have been engaged in.
“We insisted that the party structures that produced all the governorship, national and state assembly candidates for the 2027 elections are the genuine party structures with which Atiku must engage.”
An ADC leader, who also attended the meeting, disclosed that Atiku was compelled to hold a virtual meeting with South-West ADC leaders the following day, September 5, where he reportedly affirmed his loyalty to the party and promised to address the issues raised.
The ADC leader said Atiku asked each state to submit five names of party members to be appointed to his campaign committee.
“He (Atiku) promised that there would be a change and that the party would henceforth be carried along in his political activities. But little has really changed since then,” he said.
Some ADC insiders in the South-West also told Sunday PUNCH that there were indications that Atiku might not want to spend more on political activities in the region.
A party official disclosed to one of our correspondents that the ADC presidential candidate had refused to fund the party.
“You can imagine a situation where the party chairmen in the six South-West states went to Abuja to attend a meeting with him (Atiku) on September 17 and our presidential candidate refused to give them transport fare. The chairmen are not happy with him for that. Maybe he is just targeting his 25 per cent in the region,” he said.
Similarly, an ADC House of Assembly candidate in Ekiti, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday PUNCH that Atiku’s campaign lacked visibility because the party had not been engaged.
According to him, Atiku had not paid sufficient attention to the party in the region, a development he described as discouraging.
“You can see nothing is happening in the South-West ADC. Everywhere is dull, and that is because the party has not been engaged by our presidential candidate. Only his friends have been involved in his campaign activities,” he said.
2027: S’West ADC leaders revolt against Atiku
