The African Democratic Congress cleared Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen to contest its presidential primary, the party announced Saturday in Abuja.
Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, issued the statement in Abuja and said the three aspirants had been screened on Wednesday and were approved to stand in the contest.
The clearance for the three presidential hopefuls comes alongside a much larger set of approvals: the party said 513 aspirants were cleared to contest House of Representatives primaries nationwide, 109 aspirants were cleared for the Senate primaries and 80 governorship aspirants were successfully screened and cleared.
Those clearances are part of a timetable the party’s leadership approved: the ADC’s presidential primary election was scheduled for Monday, May 25, the party confirmed in the Saturday announcement.
Practically, the sequence is compressed. The three presidential aspirants were screened on Wednesday, cleared in a Saturday statement and will face the vote on Monday — a span of three days from screening to public clearance and two days from the clearance to the scheduled primary.
The party framed the wider screening — covering hundreds for legislative and gubernatorial slots — as the fulfillment of that timetable. Abdullahi’s statement did not list the locations or formats for the Monday primary in the notice released on Saturday; it did, however, tally the numbers cleared across levels.
The rapid succession from screening to ballot raises immediate, concrete questions for the ADC’s organisers and contestants: how logistical issues such as finalising ballots, notifying delegates or voters, and resolving any disputes will be handled on the short timetable. The party’s published numbers, though large, offer no detail on those steps.
For readers following internal party developments, Round Time News has related coverage of ADC matters ( and other political movements ( for a separate, unrelated schedule see a recent sports broadcast guide (
Abdullahi’s Saturday announcement fixes who will appear as presidential contenders on the ADC ballot for Monday’s contest: Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen. That set of clearances — and the short runway to the vote — will determine how the party’s nomination is decided when delegates or voters go to the ballot on May 25.
