ADC 2027 presidential ticket open to all aspirants, no zoning – El-Rufai
Former Kaduna State Governor and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has disclosed that the party will not zone its 2027 presidential ticket but will make it open to all aspirants from both the North and South.
El-Rufai made the disclosure on Monday in an interview with Trust TV, stating that the party is mobilising at the grassroots level and working on its platform and manifesto.
“We are also getting all our governorship, presidential, and other aspirants to come together and agree to a consensus that we’ll have free and fair primaries. We will not have zoning or any of that. No one will be forced to step down; everyone will be given the opportunity to contest, and whoever wins will be supported by all. This is what we’ve been working on,” he said.
On the ruling party’s advantage ahead of the 2027 elections, El-Rufai noted that even though the All Progressives Congress (APC) has a majority of the governors, it will not be a smooth ride as they might hope. “I’ve told Tinubu’s people to ask former President Goodluck Jonathan what he didn’t have in 2014 when we organised and got him out. A governor has only one vote. I was a sitting governor when Tinubu lost my state,” he said.
El-Rufai also criticised the Senate for its rejection of mandatory electronic transmission of election results, claiming the decision facilitates post-election manipulation. He regretted not being in Nigeria to join the protest led by ADC presidential candidate Peter Obi and other opposition figures at the National Assembly.
“I would have joined Mr. Peter Obi and other party leaders in protesting to the National Assembly to restore real-time and mandatory transmission of results from polling units,” he said.
He argued that electronic transmission is the most effective safeguard against electoral fraud, emphasising that rigging occurs not at polling units, but during collation. “The only way we can stop the manipulation that goes on in the collation centers. That is where the real rigging takes place,” he said.
El-Rufai expressed disappointment that although the House of Representatives passed provisions for mandatory electronic transmission, the Senate is allegedly frustrating the process. “This provision would have improved the quality of our elections. But we all know why the ruling party and the sitting government don’t want that—they know they can’t win the elections,” he alleged.
