Former presidential adviser, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has warned that the African Democratic Congress may experience internal rupture if former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerges as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.
Baba-Ahmed expressed the view on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he analysed the evolving dynamics within the opposition coalition rallying around the ADC.
According to him, Atiku is well positioned to secure the party’s ticket once a national convention is held, a development he believes would trigger widespread defections by disgruntled aspirants and supporters.
“If the ADC goes to convention, and it will, because that is what Atiku wants, he will most likely get the ticket,” Baba-Ahmed said. “And when that happens, many people will walk away because they are in the party for the same reason — the presidential ticket.”
He argued that the ADC currently houses several prominent political figures with overlapping ambitions, making internal conflict almost inevitable once the race for the party’s flagbearer formally begins.
Baba-Ahmed also commented on the posture of former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, suggesting that Obi’s political style is incompatible with a fiercely contested primary election.
“One of the reasons Peter Obi is saying he is not interested in a convention or playing second fiddle is that he is used to being adopted,” he said.
“But people around him who initially encouraged him quietly are now telling him to join the queue like everyone else.”
He added that Obi has historically emerged through consensus rather than open contests, a reality that could further strain relations within the ADC.
“Peter Obi doesn’t do conventions; he goes there to be anointed,” Baba-Ahmed remarked, warning that such expectations may heighten tensions within the party.
The former presidential adviser concluded that the outcome of the ADC’s anticipated convention could destabilise the coalition, predicting that the party would “bleed” once a candidate emerges.
“So the ADC will suffer after the convention because Atiku is likely to win, and when he does, some people will walk out,” he said.
