Atiku Defeat Claim Is Prayer, Not Analysis, ADC Tells Babachir
The African Democratic Congress has waved aside a forecast by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, that its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will lose the 2027 election, describing the projection as a personal prayer rather than an evidence based assessment.
Special Adviser to the ADC National Chairman on Research, Policy and Strategy, Chille Igbawua, made the party’s position known during an interview on ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, responding to remarks Lawal delivered on Symfoni TV over the weekend.
Lawal had rated a joint ticket of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso at about 70 per cent, President Bola Tinubu at 50 per cent, and Atiku at zero. “Definitely, Atiku will lose. He will, and I pray he loses,” he said. Lawal, who resigned from the ADC after falling out with Atiku, has repeatedly alleged that the primary which produced the former vice president as candidate was rigged, a claim the party has not formally acknowledged.
Igbawua argued that a prediction anchored on prayer could not be seriously contested. “That is not a scientific approach to a projection that you can argue against,” he said. “So it becomes difficult to argue against a person who has no basis for making a projection.” He maintained that the ADC was concentrating on building a credible platform, citing what he called one of the most robust manifestos of any Nigerian party at the moment.
He also faulted the comparison itself, noting that Atiku is not running alone. The ADC confirmed on 15 June 2026 that former Rivers State governor and ex Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, would be Atiku’s running mate. Amaechi emerged runner up in the party’s presidential primary with 504,117 votes, behind Atiku, while Mohammed Hayatu Deen placed third with 177,120 votes. “I believe that it is absolutely faulty to suggest that an Obi and Kwankwaso ticket is stronger than an Atiku and Amaechi ticket,” Igbawua said, recalling that Amaechi also finished second in the APC presidential primary ahead of the 2023 election won by Tinubu.
On Obi’s departure, Igbawua insisted the Labour Party’s 2023 flagbearer was not part of the coalition that adopted the ADC. “Peter Obi was not part of this opposition coalition movement that transmuted into the ADC,” he said. “He only came in December last year… after everything had been done.” Obi later left the ADC on 2 May 2026 and was ratified as presidential candidate of the New Democratic Congress on 29 May 2026.
The dispute revives the arithmetic of the last contest. In the February 2023 poll, Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes, or 36.61 per cent, ahead of Atiku with 6,984,520 votes at 29.07 per cent and Obi with 6,101,533 votes at 25.40 per cent, while Kwankwaso trailed on 1,496,687 votes, or 6.23 per cent, out of roughly 24.97 million valid ballots. Igbawua stressed that Atiku had previously finished above both Obi and Kwankwaso. “They’ve contested against one another in the past and he came out top,” he said.
On the economy, the party said it did not oppose the removal of fuel subsidy but faulted the government’s handling of the savings. “This government has not accounted for the outcomes or the dividends of fuel subsidy removal,” Igbawua said, adding that the ADC would soon detail an agenda centred on youth inclusion, women’s participation, security and measurable results.
With the presidential election expected in early 2027, the field is shaping up around familiar names from 2023, now realigned across fresh platforms, as the opposition weighs whether a fragmented ballot or consolidated tickets offers the surer path against the incumbent.