2027: Kwankwaso Doing Tinubu’s Bidding, ADC– PCC Alleges

The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has accused former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, of advancing President Bola Tinubu’s political interests by calling on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to step down for Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

The council described Kwankwaso’s position as reckless and self-serving, alleging that it was aimed at creating divisions within the opposition and weakening efforts to unseat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Director of Media and Publicity of the ADC-PCC, Kola Ologbondiyan, stated this on Friday while reacting to Kwankwaso’s interview on Channels Television.

Ologbondiyan accused the former governor of focusing on opposition leaders rather than challenging the Tinubu administration, which he said Nigerians were eager to vote out in 2027.
He also expressed confidence that Atiku would win Kano State, Kwankwaso’s home state, in the presidential election, whether or not the former governor supported his candidacy.

According to him, the hardship, hunger, poverty and insecurity confronting Nigerians would be major factors shaping voters’ decisions in the next general election.

Ologbondiyan questioned Kwankwaso’s position, arguing that his political alignment with Obi and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) should ordinarily compel him to support efforts to build a stronger opposition rather than call on another opposition figure to withdraw from the presidential race.

“Rather than campaigning against President Tinubu, whose administration Nigerians are eagerly working to vote out, Kwankwaso is fixated on Atiku Abubakar, the ADC candidate, whom millions of Nigerians believe can restore economic stability and make life affordable again,” he said.

The ADC-PCC spokesman suggested that Kwankwaso’s position might be influenced by his political ambitions beyond the 2027 election.

He alleged that the former governor was more concerned about positioning himself for the 2031 presidential election than addressing the immediate challenges confronting the country.

Ologbondiyan further questioned Kwankwaso’s political intentions, claiming that his recent interventions appeared to benefit the ruling APC more than the opposition parties seeking to defeat it.

He, however, argued that Kwankwaso’s support was not indispensable to Atiku’s chances of winning Kano State, citing previous presidential elections in which former President Muhammadu Buhari secured victories in the state.

“What Kwankwaso is doing amounts to advancing President Tinubu’s interests. It is a familiar APC strategy to use willing collaborators within the opposition to create confusion, sow division and weaken the collective efforts to bring about political change,” he said.

“Nigerians are wiser than that and will not allow themselves to be distracted by political manoeuvres designed to rescue an unpopular administration.”

The campaign council also accused Kwankwaso of placing personal political ambition above the collective interests of opposition parties.

Ologbondiyan alleged that the former governor’s support for Obi was driven more by calculations for future political negotiations than by a genuine commitment to defeating the APC in 2027.

He further questioned Kwankwaso’s political trajectory, citing his movement across different political parties as evidence of what he described as persistent political repositioning.

“From the PDP to the APC, back to the PDP, then to the NNPP, the ADC, and now the NDC, Kwankwaso’s political journey calls for serious reflection. His latest interventions appear to be taking him back into the political shadows of the APC,” he said.

Comparing the political profiles of Atiku and Kwankwaso, Ologbondiyan described the former vice president as a nationally recognised politician with extensive networks across the country’s six geopolitical zones.

He argued that Atiku’s political relationships across regional, ethnic and religious divides gave him a stronger foundation for building a winning national coalition in 2027.

“Atiku Abubakar is a cosmopolitan, detribalised and nationally recognised political figure who has built relationships across the North, South, East and West over more than three decades.

“Kwankwaso, on the other hand, has concentrated much of his political strength within Kano State. His ability to translate that regional influence into broad national electoral success remains a major question,” he said.

The ADC-PCC spokesman also cited Kwankwaso’s fourth-place finish in the 2023 presidential election as evidence, in his assessment, that the former governor’s political influence had yet to translate into sufficient nationwide electoral support.

“If his political relevance were as extensive as he suggests, why did he finish fourth in the last presidential election?” he asked.

Ologbondiyan further expressed concern about the implications of Kwankwaso’s position for Obi and the NDC leadership, insisting that Atiku remained better positioned to secure victory in the 2027 presidential election.

The council urged Nigerians and the media to disregard what it described as Kwankwaso’s attempt to attract attention and instead support Atiku and the ADC.

It also called on Kwankwaso and his allies to reconsider their position and support Atiku’s candidacy, which it described as the most viable path to defeating Tinubu and addressing the country’s economic and security challenges.

“The task before opposition leaders is not to undermine one another for personal political advantage but to unite around the urgent national mission of rescuing Nigeria,” Ologbondiyan said.