The ADC governorship primary in Kwara State has emerged as more than a routine candidate selection exercise. The emergence of former House of Representatives spokesperson Zakari Mohammed as the party’s candidate has sparked conversations around political realignment, zoning, opposition strategy, and the ADC’s growing ambitions ahead of the 2027 elections, writes TOHEEB OMOTAYO
Several weeks after the African Democratic Congress concluded its governorship primary in Kwara State, the political significance of the exercise continues to reverberate beyond the party’s internal ranks.
What initially appeared to be a routine candidate selection process has evolved into a broader conversation about political realignment, zoning calculations, opposition strategy and the ADC’s growing ambitions ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The emergence of former House of Representatives spokesperson Zakari Mohammed as the party’s governorship candidate did more than settle an internal contest. It provided an early glimpse into how the ADC intends to position itself in a state long dominated by larger political forces, while simultaneously navigating the challenges confronting the party at the national level.
As parties refine their strategies and political actors reassess alliances, the outcome of the ADC primary remains a useful lens through which to examine the shifting dynamics that could shape Kwara’s next governorship contest.
In the weeks leading up to the ADC governorship primary in Kwara State, the atmosphere within political circles was shaped less by suspense and more by quiet certainty, control.
Control over structure. Control over delegates. Control over outcomes.
When the votes were finally counted at the party secretariat in Ilorin on Saturday, that assumption had crystallised into a formal outcome: former House of Representatives spokesperson, Mohammed, emerged as the party’s governorship candidate with 18,860 votes.
The primary, held on Friday, May 22 and concluded with results announced on Saturday, May 23, did more than produce candidates.
It revealed the ADC’s attempt to build a disciplined electoral structure in Kwara even as its national architecture battles internal strain.
A calm primary masking deeper political engineering
On the surface, the exercise was orderly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission monitored the proceedings. Party officials declared the process hitch-free. Delegates participated in a direct primary that ended without visible rupture.
The Secretary of the Kwara State ADC Governorship Primary Election Committee, Shimaka Sekegh, who announced the results on behalf of Chairman Orker Yisa, confirmed Zakari Mohammed’s victory alongside those of other candidates across senatorial and House of Representatives slots.
While Mohammed was presented as a sole aspirant who simply scaled through a direct primary, party insiders frame the process differently.
What emerged as “consensus,” they say, was the product of quiet alignment; a calculated effort to avoid the kind of fragmentation that has destabilised larger political platforms in the state.
A party insider, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said: “The ADC made such a concerted effort to stabilise the party through a consensus arrangement and to avoid the same problem that befell larger political platforms like the APC.”
The strategy ensured that senatorial and House of Representatives tickets were distributed alongside the governorship structure, creating a full electoral slate ahead of 2027.
Senatorial candidates emerged across all three districts: Hajia Risikat Tunrayo Abdullahi (Kwara Central), Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo (Kwara South), and Malam Taoheed Bala Usman (Kwara North).
House of Representatives candidates were also confirmed across constituencies, including Ilorin West/Asa, Oyun/Offa/Ifelodun, and Ilorin South/Ilorin East.
Speaking after the governorship primary exercise, Kwara State ADC Chairman, Babatunde Mohammed, commended party members for what he described as a peaceful and successful process.
“The primaries were hitch-free,” Babatunde Mohammed said while expressing satisfaction with the conduct of members and the level of mobilisation recorded during the exercise.
“Party members should return to the 193 electoral wards in the state and begin to work for the success of the party in the forthcoming general elections,” he said.
The message from the leadership was clear: cohesion first, contestation later.
Kwara North calculation
The most politically sensitive layer of Zakari Mohammed’s emergence lies in geography.
His candidature immediately intersects with one of Kwara’s most enduring political debates: zoning.
For years, stakeholders from Kwara North have argued that the district remains structurally excluded from the governorship rotation despite its electoral weight and spread across five local government areas.
By selecting a candidate from Baruten Local Government Area, the ADC did not merely fill a slot. It entered a long-running political argument.
The implication is immediate.
Rival parties were now compelled to respond to a zoning narrative they did not initiate, but could no longer ignore.
Zakari will now face the Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Yakubu Danladi-Salihu of the ruling APC, in the 2027 governorship election.
The duo hail from the same region: Baruten Local Government Area in the Kwara North Senatorial District.
Within Kwara political analysis, this is seen less as coincidence and more as strategic positioning.
‘Third Force’ ambition
The ADC’s growing profile in Kwara cannot be separated from broader attempts to position the party as an alternative political platform ahead of 2027.
The emergence of Mohammed is widely interpreted within this context: a convergence of political actors seeking relevance outside the APC-PDP structure.
The influence of former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and former APC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi further reinforces this repositioning, with both figures occupying strategic roles within the party’s national architecture.
While Abdullahi serves as interim national spokesperson, Ahmed chairs the party’s presidential election committee; roles that extend Kwara’s influence into the national structure of the ADC.
Within the party’s internal ecosystem, this has strengthened the perception that Kwara is becoming a strategic hub of ADC mobilisation.
One of the most notable features of the primary is not who contested, but who did not.
There was no visible breakdown of factional resistance at the governorship level.
Instead, potential aspirants were either consolidated into legislative contests or absorbed into the broader campaign structure.
This absence of open conflict is being interpreted in two ways.
Supporters describe it as maturity: a deliberate effort to avoid the internal crises currently affecting larger parties.
Critics interpret it as managed unanimity: a structured narrowing of competition to preserve elite alignment.
Either way, the outcome achieved what the party needed most at this stage: a unified front.
National turbulence
While the Kwara ADC projected stability, the party at the national level is facing what analysts describe as its most serious structural strain since its formation.
At the centre is a leadership crisis involving rival claims to national authority, with factions aligned with David Mark and Nafiu Bala reportedly locked in a contest over control of the party’s national chairmanship.
The dispute has triggered legal uncertainty, affecting recognition issues with the INEC and slowing national coordination.
Compounding the tension are allegations of disrupted national conventions, logistical breakdowns in party administration, and difficulties maintaining membership databases required for electoral compliance.
One internal description captures the mood bluntly: a party expanding politically while fragmenting structurally.
Presidential politics
The ADC’s internal dynamics have also been reshaped by heavyweight presidential ambitions.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has emerged as a dominant presence in the ongoing national primaries, reportedly recording strong performances across several states, including Zamfara, Yobe, Sokoto, and Adamawa.
His entry, backed by a ₦90 million nomination structure, has repositioned the ADC as a competitive platform for elite presidential bargaining.
At the same time, the departure of Peter Obi on May 3, 2026, citing a “toxic political climate,” further exposed the party’s internal fractures.
Obi’s subsequent alignment with the Nigeria Democratic Congress alongside Rabiu Kwankwaso marked a significant shift in opposition realignment and removed one of the ADC’s most high-profile reformist figures.
The combined effect has left the party increasingly shaped by heavyweight competition rather than ideological cohesion.
Funding allegations
In Kwara State, the ADC’s growing visibility has also attracted controversy.
The Kwara North Development Commission alleged that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq was secretly funding the party as part of a broader political strategy ahead of 2027.
In its statement, the group claimed the ADC’s stability and silence on government policies suggested indirect backing from the state’s political establishment.
“All the poise of the ADC in the state is being sustained and maintained by the governor and his agents,” the group alleged.
The claim introduced a layer of suspicion into the party’s rapid organisational growth.
But the allegation was strongly rejected by party figures.
Former Nigerian Ambassador to Japan, Isa Gana, dismissed it as unfounded.
“How can Governor AbdulRazaq be funding the ADC, which is out to wrest power from his party?” he queried
Political messaging
In his acceptance speech, Zakari Mohammed framed his emergence as both symbolic and strategic: a victory for inclusion and a signal of broader political ambition.
He positioned the ADC as a mass-based alternative political platform cutting across social classes.
“By the grace of God, we will deliver on the ADC manifesto. It is a party for young people, women, senior citizens, artisans, and everyone,” he said.
He also projected confidence in the party’s national ambition.
“ADC will take over the control of Ahmadu Bello Government House, Ilorin, next year,” he declared.
“ADC will occupy Ahmadu Bello Way and ADC will occupy Aso Rock.”
The language reflected not just aspiration, but a deliberate attempt to frame the ADC as a national contender rather than a regional experiment.
Kwara’s new political equation
The emergence of Zakari Mohammed has now altered the early configuration of the 2027 governorship race in Kwara.
It introduces a northern-based candidate into a field already shaped by zoning sensitivities, elite recalibration, and shifting alliances.
But beyond the personality, the deeper story remains structural.
The ADC is simultaneously building electoral machinery in Kwara while grappling with national leadership instability, ideological fractures, and presidential-level competition that is reshaping its identity.
Road to 2027
For the Kwara ADC, the primary represents both arrival and a beginning.
Arrival, in the sense of a completed state-level structure capable of fielding candidates across all levels.
Beginning, in the sense of an unfolding test of whether that structure can survive national turbulence while competing against entrenched political forces.
For now, Zakari Mohammed stands as the face of that experiment: a candidate emerging from consensus, but within a party still searching for stability at the centre.
And in Kwara’s increasingly complex political terrain, that tension between order and instability may define the real battle ahead of 2027.
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