A Tale of Two Primaries: How the ADC is Navigating Nasarawa and Adamawa

By Ibrahim Nasiru

In the unfolding theater of the 2027 gubernatorial cycle, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has emerged as one of the most structurally dynamic platforms to watch across the North-Central and North-East zones.

However, a closer look at the party’s current legal and administrative battles in Nasarawa and Adamawa states reveals a striking paradox. While the ADC in Nasarawa is undergoing a routine process cleanup, its chapter in Adamawa is locked in an existential battle for survival.

Evaluating these two internal crises side-by-side offers a profound lesson in sub-national campaign management, institutional friction, and the unforgiving reality of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal.

1. The Legal Battlefield: Rerun vs. Substitution

In Nasarawa State, the judicial intervention delivered on the 3rd of November by Federal High Court 5 in Abuja is essentially an administrative tune-up. The court did not disqualify the candidacy of Major General Nuhu Angbazo (Rtd). It simply declared the initial primary inconclusive due to the omission of the Karu local government counts and ordered a fresh exercise within 14 days. The structural engine of the ticket remains very much alive; it merely requires a transparent process correction to ensure an unassailable, legally airtight mandate ahead of the general election.

Conversely, the situation in Adamawa State is an outright existential emergency. Unlike the process adjustment in Nasarawa, the INEC portal for Adamawa recently updated its official list to display Modibbo Hammantukur Ribadu—the pioneer Director/CEO of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU)—as the definitive ADC gubernatorial candidate.

This sudden development has forced the initial primary winner, Ambassador Omar Suleiman (Dokaji Adamawa), to head to the Federal High Court to legally challenge what his camp terms an unauthorized substitution. In Nasarawa, the candidate is fighting for a complete vote count; in Adamawa, the candidate is fighting to reclaim his name on the ballot.

2.The Friction Matrix: Cooperative Realignment vs. Multi-Front Warfare

The internal chemistry within the two state chapters could not be more different. In Nasarawa, the 14-day post-judgment window is already driving a sophisticated, cooperative realignment.

As field intel confirms, the opposing primary camps of Barrister Mohammed Hassan Abdullahi and Dr. Osana Odonye have smoothly bypassed local friction to jointly coordinate H.E. Atiku Abubakar’s national campaign network within the state. The Nasarawa ADC is consolidating its factions under a single, unified national umbrella.

In Adamawa, Dokaji Adamawa is fighting a grueling multi-front war. Beyond challenging the national party leadership and rejecting external endorsements in court, his campaign directorate is simultaneously fending off aggressive state-level administrative pressure.

A Chief Magistrate Court in Yola recently slapped his campaign with a ₦3 Million administrative fine following a suit by the state’s Ministry of Environment regarding political posters on the Yola Unity Flyover. While his lead counsel, Bala Sanga Esq., has rightly clarified that this fine carries no criminal weight, it highlights the immense logistical and administrative friction Dokaji must clear just to keep his campaign machinery breathing.

Conclusion: The Institutional Standard
What these two scenarios tell us is that political longevity is never achieved through uniform strategies. The national leadership of the ADC is testing two entirely different crisis-management models simultaneously.

In Nasarawa, the path forward is clear, orderly, and anchored on grass-roots voter inclusion in Karu. In Adamawa, the conflict has degraded into an intricate legal entanglement that threatens to exhaust the party’s momentum before the first official ballot is cast.

For political stakeholders, the lesson is clear: a campaign that cannot secure its internal administrative structures will eventually find itself spending more time in courtroom docks than on the campaign trail.

Nasarawa is showing us how to correct a process; Adamawa is showing us the high cost of institutional drift.

Ibrahim Nasiru
Public Affairs Analyst