Barely ten days to the commencement of the presidential campaign by political parties ahead of the 2027 general elections, the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have hit a stalemate over who should head the party’s presidential campaign between Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and former Rivers State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed August 19, 2026 as the official date for the commencement of the 2027 presidential elections.

On the heels of the official date, political parties are putting finishing touches to their presidential campaign compositions.

Although political parties are not mandated to kick start their presidential campaigns on August 19, 2026; the four major political parties namely : All Progressives Congress (APC), African Democratic Congress (ADC) ,National Democratic Party (NDC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be expected to release their presidential campaign teams earlier than the commencement date for the campaigns as statements of readiness .

The ADC currently seen as a major force in the 2027 general elections is currently hibernating between Tambuwal and Imoke as opinions within the party’s hierarchy have taken regional dimensions .

Sources within the party told The Guardian that while Atiku Abubakar and a handful of the members of the National Working Committee (NWC) across geopolitical zones are more favourably dispossed to having the former Sokoto state Governor head the campaign team , some are of the strong opinion that somebody from the South and particularly senator Imoke be saddled with the responsibility of heading the presidential campaign team.

While the divergent views have placed the National Chairman of the party ,Senator David Mark in a tight position , the Vice Presidential candidate of the ADC , Honourable Rotimi Amaechi’s silence , according to our sources ,has made the situation more complicated .

A member of the National Working Committee of the ADC who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Guardian that the former House of Representatives Speaker, Senator Tambuwal, provided leadership in terms of organizing the Atiku campaign in 2023 and now that he will be running for any political office in the 2027, he should be allowed to head the campaign without any distractions .

According to the source: “well it is true that we are having different opinions regarding who chairs the campaign of our Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and his running mate Rotimi Amaechi , but some of us are of the opinion that Senator Tambuwal did a good job in 2023 even when he was also running for an elections and we could see the level of organisation and hardwork that he put into the campaign team and had to split his time to attend to governance in Sokoto , run his personal campaign and also coordinate the presidential campaign .

“Now he is not running for any elections . Secondly , this is somebody who built bridges across the country when he was Speaker , do not forget how he emerged as speaker , so he build such alliances and there is no place in Nigeria where he does not have allies and that is good for the campaign .

” Thirdly, Tambuwal has friends across all the political parties including the APC , he has the integrity and you cannot argue that he is not loved . So we need such person that can change the game , but you know in this kind of situation people will want to differ and you cannot blame them . That is why some of our colleagues are fronting for senator Liyel Imoke .

“There argument is that since Atiku is from the North, there should be somebody from the South to run the campaign at the level of Director General .

“Some of us have tried to let them understand that Imoke can be the chairman of the campaign council which is actually reasonable . So that is where we are having a stalemate but I believe that Tambuwal might emerge in the long run but I can confirm to you that there is that debate and the leadership of our party is taking time to convince those with opposing views so that it does not degenerate into another turbulence .

“What we need now is unity, so no opinion or suggestion cannot be outrightly dismissed . We will address these concerns and arrive at a conclusion that nobody will feel bad. That is the situation.”

The Guardian also gathered that the ADC is working on an all stakeholders meeting immediately after the off-season Governorship election in Osun state for the purpose of coming up with an authentic list of the presidential Campaign Council and the Presidential Campaign organisation.

It was also gathered that the national leadership of the ADC has started penning down some names for the broad-based Presidential Campaign Organisation that will be all-encompassing and represent all interests all levels.

It was gathered that all ADC Governorship candidates across the 36 states have been mandated to make nominations into the Presidential Campaign Organisations.

It was also gathered that the Leadership of the ADC will focus mainly on the constitution of the Presidential Campaign Council, while the Presidential Candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Honourable Rotimi Amaechi, will largely handle the composition of the Presidential Campaign Organisation.