Atiku maintains commanding lead over Amaechi, Hayatu-Deen in ADC presidential primaries

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has maintained lead in the African Democratic Congress presidential primary on Tuesday night, polling more than 1.4 million votes across 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory while results from other states are still pending.

The results announced before the adjournment suggested that what began as a competitive three-way race was rapidly turning into a one-sided contest, with Atiku overwhelming his rivals in several northern states and opening margins increasingly difficult to close as collation moved toward its final stretch mathematically.

The scale of some of the figures announced at the venue also triggered quiet discussions among delegates and party officials about turnout strength, regional dominance and the widening gap between the former vice president and his challengers.

At the national collation centre in Abuja, the exercise was chaired by Chairman of the Presidential Primary Election Committee, Ikechi Emenike and was suspended shortly before midnight after hours of state-by-state declarations by returning officers.

Delegates and party officials huddled in small groups around the hall as fresh figures arrived from across the country deep into the night, with many already treating the remaining declarations as a battle over the final margin rather than the eventual winner.

Announcing the postponement, Emenike said the decision was taken to allow Muslim party members celebrate Eid al-Kabir and because some returning officers were unable to arrive in Abuja due to flight disruptions.

“Collation for the remaining states will commence by 8 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday). Some returning officers had flight challenges getting to Abuja,” he added.

Before the adjournment, results from 24 states and the FCT had already been declared, leaving 12 states yet to be announced.

The states announced included Borno, Kebbi, Anambra, Abia, Ekiti, Ondo, Gombe, Oyo, Imo, Yobe, Nasarawa, Enugu, Benue, Osun, Adamawa, Kogi, Kano, Akwa Ibom, Sokoto, Taraba, Zamfara and the FCT.

The declared figures showed Atiku dominating key voting blocs, particularly across the North, where he opened overwhelming leads in several states central to the party’s delegate arithmetic.

Adamawa delivered Atiku’s single biggest haul at 177,141 votes, far ahead of Amaechi’s 1,896 and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen’s 18,949.

In Kano, another major battleground, the former vice president polled 155,595 votes, while former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi scored 9,994 and Hayatu-Deen secured 15,914.

Gombe produced one of the night’s most lopsided outcomes, with Atiku polling 136,933 votes against Amaechi’s 1,140 and Hayatu-Deen’s 455.

The former vice president also posted commanding victories in Borno and Sokoto, polling 86,084 and 63,823 votes, respectively, as both challengers struggled to gain meaningful ground.

Amaechi recorded his strongest resistance in states such as Benue, Taraba and Kogi, though the margins remained insufficient to significantly slow Atiku’s momentum heading into the remaining declarations.

In Benue, Amaechi scored 30,881 votes against Atiku’s 55,177, while Hayatu-Deen polled 22,141.

Taraba produced 25,150 votes for Amaechi, while Atiku polled 48,523 and Hayatu-Deen secured 8,369 votes.

In Kogi, Amaechi scored 23,573 votes, while Atiku led with 48,351 and Hayatu-Deen polled 9,173.Hayatu-Deen’s strongest outings came in Benue, Adamawa and Kano, but the businessman struggled to break Atiku’s dominance in most of the states declared before the adjournment.

By the time collation was suspended, conversations inside the hall had shifted from who might win the primary to the scale of Atiku’s lead, the political statement behind the huge margins emerging from key northern states and whether any of the remaining declarations could significantly alter the trajectory of the race.

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