2027: Atiku Appoints Kenneth Okonkwo As Spokesperson
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has appointed Nollywood actor and lawyer Kenneth Okonkwo as his spokesperson, ending weeks of open friction that followed the African Democratic Congress chieftain’s public rejection of the party’s vice presidential choice for the 2027 general election.
Okonkwo announced the appointment in a statement posted on his official X page on Thursday, thanking the former vice president for the confidence placed in him. “I give God all the glory to be appointed by His Excellency Atiku Abubakar as his Spokesperson. I thank HE AA for the immense confidence reposed in me,” he wrote.
The actor turned politician framed the appointment as a mark of Atiku’s approach to internal dissent. “Rather than pick offence against any of his associates for expressing genuine reservations of any action taken, HE AA always opts for dialogue and compromise that will engender solution to problems,” he said.
The reconciliation is striking because of how publicly the relationship appeared to fracture in June. On June 15, 2026, shortly after the ADC named former Rivers State Governor and Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi as Atiku’s running mate, Okonkwo withdrew his support for the ticket in a strongly worded statement. He described the selection of a South-South candidate as “crude marginalisation of the South-East,” noting that the zone has produced neither a President nor a Vice President since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999. He argued that having conceded the party’s national chairmanship and the presidential ticket, denying the South-East the vice presidency amounted to “unpardonable injustice.”
Amaechi emerged as running mate after finishing as first runner-up to Atiku at the ADC’s presidential primary in May 2026, where the former vice president also defeated Mohammed Hayatu-Deen. The announcement coincided with a turbulent period for the party. On the same day, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister the ADC and four other parties, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026 filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators, for allegedly failing to meet the performance thresholds in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution. A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal halted enforcement of that judgment the following day, holding that the trial court had acted despite a subsisting May 22 stay of proceedings.
Okonkwo appeared to reference that legal turbulence in his statement, saying discussions with Atiku and other ADC leaders had addressed regional concerns. “At a dialogue with HE AA and other well-meaning members of the African Democratic Congress, the interests of the South-East have been discussed and guaranteed within the existing challenges posed by the Electoral Act, 2026, and the realities on the ground,” he stated.
He thanked Dr Kashim Imam, former ADC National Chairman Ralphs Nwosu, who founded the party in 2005 before handing it to the opposition coalition in 2025, and Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties, Dr Ekene Onwuka, for strengthening the party ahead of 2027. He also appealed for continued prayers for “wisdom, courage, provision, and protection” in what he called a challenging post.
The appointment adds another chapter to Okonkwo’s eventful political journey. He served as one of the spokespersons of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Organisation during Peter Obi’s 2023 run before aligning with the ADC coalition. His new role positions him at the centre of an opposition campaign that Atiku, a six-time presidential contender, hopes will unseat the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2027, even as the party’s deregistration appeal remains before the Court of Appeal.