Party may name Abia senator Akobundu as Atiku-Amaechi campaign DG
By Ademu Idakwo and James Kwen, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) entered the 2027 race promising to reshape Nigeria’s opposition politics and emerge as a formidable challenger to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, three governorship elections have now offered the party an early reality check: in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun, it failed to win a single state or finish as runner-up.
The results have exposed a widening gap between the ADC’s growing political visibility and its electoral strength on the ground, forcing the party to confront a difficult question ahead of 2027: can its national opposition profile be translated into the votes, structures and grassroots mobilisation needed to mount a serious challenge for power?
While the APC has seized on the three defeats as evidence of the ADC’s organisational weakness, the opposition party and its supporters dismiss the results as an unreliable measure of its national prospects, arguing that off-cycle governorship elections do not necessarily reflect the dynamics of a presidential election.
With 2027 drawing closer, the ADC must now prove that its growing coalition, prominent political figures and expanding national profile can deliver more than political headlines when Nigerians finally go to the polls.
Three elections, no victory
In Anambra, the ADC candidate, John Chuma-Nwosu, polled 8,208 votes to finish fifth in the November 2025 governorship election.
In Ekiti, its candidate, Oluwadare Bejide, secured 12,872 votes to finish third behind the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Wole Oluyede, who scored 40,543 votes, and the victorious APC candidate, Biodun Oyebanji, who polled 319,224 votes.
The party also finished third in Osun, where its candidate, Najeem Salaam, polled 17,180 votes, far behind Accord candidate and Governor Ademola Adeleke, who won with 511,067 votes, and APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji, who scored 444,815 votes.
Across the three elections, the ADC polled 38,260 votes, recording its strongest performance in absolute numbers in Osun.
Obi factor complicates Anambra assessment
The Anambra result, however, requires some qualification when assessing the ADC’s current political strength because Peter Obi was not a member of the party when the election was held.
Obi joined the ADC in December 2025 but announced his departure in May 2026 before moving to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), adding another layer of competition to the opposition landscape ahead of 2027.
His exit means the ADC can no longer rely on the former Anambra governor’s political profile and support base as one of its major assets as it prepares for the general elections.
Question over ADC’s 2027 prospects
