A Nigerian court has voided the nomination of former vice president Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the election due in January, dealing a serious blow to one of the main challengers to President Bola Tinubu.
The Federal High Court in Abuja ruled on Thursday that the process that produced the ADC’s leadership was invalid, because its officials had not been elected through a national convention. The judge set aside all of the steps that led to the emergence of the party executive, as well as Atiku’s nomination as its presidential candidate.
The case was brought by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former ADC national deputy chairman, who argued that the party’s leadership had not been chosen in line with its own rules.
The ADC rejected the ruling, describing it as a politically motivated attempt to weaken the opposition. It said it would challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.
“We have seen this script before. When they are scared that the opposition is gathering steam, they use their judges in the courts to influence legally indefensible judgments,” ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi said in a statement.
The ruling comes days after Tinubu formally launched his own re-election campaign in the northern city of Kaduna, where he sought to persuade voters that painful economic reforms were beginning to yield results despite a persistent cost-of-living crisis.
Atiku, who was vice president between 1999 and 2007, was the runner-up in the last election and won the ADC ticket in May, in what would have been his seventh presidential bid. He and Peter Obi, who came third last time, had been seen as the main opposition challengers to Tinubu.
An incumbent Nigerian president has lost an election only once, in 2015, when Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat to the late Muhammadu Buhari following an opposition merger.
Sources: Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerian-court-voids-candidacy-opposition-adcs-atiku-2027-election-2026-11-05/
