The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said it was forced to adopt direct primaries for the 2027 elections after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ruled out other options.
ADC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking on ARISE News about the challenges of organising the nationwide exercise.
“We always knew it was going to be a challenge because it requires an INEC-level logistics to be able to do a nationwide election,” he said.
Abdullahi explained that the party initially preferred a consensus arrangement, but legal hurdles and pending court cases made it impossible to convene the necessary convention.
“But when the INEC imposed it on us as the only option aside from the consensus, then we had no choice but to brace up for it,” he added.
He denied reports that the party’s consensus plan had collapsed, insisting that internal discussions among aspirants remained orderly and democratic.
“The ADC is a party that prides itself in contestation, internal contestation of ideas, of positions. We don’t impose,” Abdullahi stated.
The spokesman assured that the party has received no major complaints about the conduct of the primaries and that aspirants have agreed to abide by the outcome. He also dismissed suggestions of factions within the ADC.
