The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other retired political leaders of manipulating Peter Obi and the ADC leadership to serve Atiku’s 2027 presidential ambition.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Kachikwu alleged that Atiku’s allies have infiltrated the party’s hierarchy nationwide, pressuring Obi to accept the role of running mate. He claimed the plot is part of a calculated effort to take over the ADC.
“I had warned that a group of mostly old former political officeholders were executing a carefully orchestrated agenda to take over the ADC to prosecute Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambition come 2027,” Kachikwu stated. “Today I have been proven right, as former governor Obi and his people now realise this coalition is indeed a one-man power grab.”
Kachikwu further alleged that despite professing friendship with the South, Atiku does not believe any Southerner deserves to be president — a stance he says former presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan could confirm.
He accused Atiku’s camp of deepening regional divides by portraying President Bola Tinubu as hostile to the North while using poverty, religion, ethnicity, and tribal sentiments as political tools.
“Atiku Abubakar and a few northern elites who have for decades held political power but did nothing to alleviate undereducation and poverty in northern Nigeria are at it again,” he said.
Kachikwu also presented what he described as evidence of forged signatures from ADC state chairmen on court documents to support Ralph Nwosu’s disputed chairmanship claim. He condemned the appointment of former Senate President David Mark as ADC chairman, calling it “fraud perpetrated in broad daylight.”
