Rabiu Kwankwaso has ruled out any possibility of the Nigeria Democratic Congress withdrawing its presidential ticket for the African Democratic Congress or any other party, ending days of speculation about an opposition merger ahead of the January 2027 election.
Kwankwaso, the NDC’s vice-presidential candidate, made the position in a statement on his verified Facebook page on Sunday. He said he and Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate, remained committed to the race and would not step aside. “Let me state clearly and unequivocally: we will not withdraw our candidature for the ADC or any other party,” he said. “We remain confident in our capacity, competence, and readiness to lead Nigeria.”
The statement followed a sharp exchange between the two opposition camps. On Friday, the ADC Presidential Campaign Council accused Kwankwaso of working to weaken the opposition and advance President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid. Kola Ologbondiyan, the council’s director of media and publicity, said Kwankwaso’s call for Atiku Abubakar, the ADC candidate, to step down for Obi was self-serving and aimed at dividing the opposition.
Kwankwaso returned fire on Sunday, saying the ADC campaign had abandoned issue-based politics. He accused its spokesmen of spreading claims that the NDC ticket was secretly working for the APC or would withdraw at the last minute. “The OK ticket is neither working for nor acting on behalf of the APC or any of its candidates,” he said.
The dispute has its roots in the 2023 election, when the opposition vote was split three ways. Tinubu won with 8,794,726 votes, or 36.61 per cent. Atiku finished second with 6,984,520 votes, or 29.07 per cent, while Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes, or 25.40 per cent. Kwankwaso, then running on the New Nigeria Peoples Party platform, polled about 1.5 million votes. The combined tally of the three main opposition candidates exceeded the winner’s total, a fact that has shaped opposition strategy since.
The Independent National Electoral Commission published the final list of presidential candidates for 2027 on September 12, featuring 18 parties. Tinubu is the APC candidate, with Vice-President Kashim Shettima as his running mate. Atiku is the ADC candidate. Obi and Kwankwaso head the NDC ticket. The election is scheduled for January 16, 2027.
The ADC’s campaign has argued that Kwankwaso’s influence is concentrated in Kano and has questioned his national reach, pointing to his fourth-place finish in 2023. Ologbondiyan said Atiku would win Kano without Kwankwaso’s support, citing former President Muhammadu Buhari’s victories in the state in 2003 and 2007. He also accused Kwankwaso of positioning himself for 2031 rather than focusing on defeating the APC in 2027.
Kwankwaso, a former Kano governor and one-time minister of defence, has insisted the NDC ticket offers the strongest challenge to the ruling party. He described the APC-led government as a failure and said the ADC offered no better alternative. He also urged the ADC campaign to focus on allegations Vice-President Shettima has levelled against Atiku rather than attacking him and Obi.
The back-and-forth has exposed the difficulty of building a united opposition front. The ADC and NDC are competing for the same anti-establishment vote, and their public quarrel risks reinforcing the impression of a fractured opposition, a charge both sides deny. With less than three months to the election, the two campaigns have spent more time attacking each other than presenting a common platform to voters.
Kwankwaso’s statement also contained a warning. He said the ADC campaign might attempt to mislead NDC supporters on the eve of the election by claiming the party intended to withdraw in favour of Atiku. He said such claims should be treated as unfounded.
For now, the NDC ticket remains in the race, and the party has said it will contest the election on its record and its programme. Whether that position holds through the campaign, or whether pressure for a merger returns, is a question the coming weeks will answer.