Did Atiku and Rotimi collapse structure to support Peter Obi as ADC’s flag bearer?

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Cole Praise

Claim: A Facebook user claims former vice president Atiku Abubakar and former transport minister Rotimi Amaechi decided to collapse the structure and adopt Obi as ADC’s flag bearer.

Verdict: False. DUBAWA contacted the ADC spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, who dismissed the claim as fake. We also spoke with Atiku’s spokesperson, Paul Ibe, who stated that the purported development was without merit.

Full Text

Ahead of the 2027 general elections, there have been wild speculations about who would eventually emerge as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) flagbearer.

Recall that on July 2, 2025, prominent opposition leaders, including the former vice president Atiku Abubakar, former Anambra State governor and 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El Rufai, amongst others, attended a media conference to form an opposition coalition.

Following this move, two-time Rivers State governor and former transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi, stated that the coalition opposition leaders would support whoever emerges as the presidential candidate of the ADC.

In light of the foregoing, a Facebook user, Osuji Ekene, claims that Atiku and Rotimi have agreed to support and adopt Obi as the coalition’s candidate.

“BREAKING NEWS: Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, and Rotimi Amaechi have finally agreed to collapse structures and adopt Peter Obi as the consensus candidate,” the caption reads.

As of Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, the Facebook post had gained two likes, but had been shared on X here and here.

Due to the implications of such an assertion in public discourse and its spread across platforms, DUBAWA decided to verify the claim.

Verification

DUBAWA checked if the assertion was a new development reported by credible media outlets, but discovered that none had reported it.

So we contacted Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC’s spokesperson, regarding the claim, and he dismissed it as fake news.

He described the claim as “Fake!” to DUBAWA.

We also contacted the spokesperson to Atiku, Paul Ibe, who dismissed it as unfounded.

“Ayilola of Nigeria (one of the claimants) is not a stakeholder in the ADC. He is neither the party’s chairperson nor the party’s secretary nor the publicity secretary. So on what grounds is he speaking? It is just pure bullshit,” he asserted to DUBAWA.