In an interview with the Sun on Sunday, May 10, 2026, the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, made a clear and deliberate statement about how his party intended to approach the selection of its presidential candidate, firmly rejecting the idea that zoning or regional considerations would drive the decision and insisting that strategic merit would be the only currency that mattered.
Abdullahi framed the ADC’s approach as fundamentally different from the identity-driven calculations that have long dominated Nigerian political party decisions. “Opposition political parties take strategic decisions that can help them to win,” he said, setting the tone for what he argued should be the guiding principle behind any candidate selection.
He applied this standard directly to the two names most prominently in contention, beginning with Peter Obi. “If we were going to choose Peter Obi as our candidate, it will not be because we zoned to the South,” he stated plainly, before clarifying the only basis on which such a choice would be made. “It will be because we find that strategically, he is the most suitable to lead us to victory,” he said.
He extended the same logic to former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, making clear that the same rule applied regardless of the individual. “If we choose Rotimi Amaechi, it will be because we find him to be the suitable person that will lead us to victory, not because we zoned to South,” he said, drawing a sharp and consistent line between principled strategic thinking and the kind of regional horse-trading that he suggested had no place in the ADC’s decision-making process….Read_More…