The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo has said the African Democratic Congress (ADC) will remain on the ballot for the 2027 general elections, but former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other candidates nominated by the faction led by former Senate President David Mark may not appear on the ballot, depending on the outcome of an expected Supreme Court review.
Keyamo, writing on X on Sunday, dismissed suggestions that a recent Federal High Court ruling had disqualified the ADC as a party.
“The ADC will be on the ballot,” he said, adding that it was the candidates produced by the Mark-led faction—including Mr. Atiku—whose eligibility remained uncertain pending the Supreme Court’s final judgment.
The dispute stems from a judgment delivered Thursday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The court declared the David Mark-led caretaker committee illegal and invalidated decisions taken under its authority, including the presidential primary that produced Atiku as the ADC’s 2027 candidate.
The case was brought by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former Deputy National Chairman of the ADC, who challenged the process through which Mark and other officials assumed control of the party.
The court found that the committee’s emergence violated the ADC’s constitution, the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution.
The ruling has intensified a leadership crisis within the opposition party weeks before the January 16, 2027 presidential election.
The ADC has rejected the judgment and said it will appeal, while Atiku has insisted that no court action will force him out of the race.
Keyamo argued that politicians should accept judicial decisions rather than attack judges when rulings go against them.
He cited the Supreme Court’s 2019 Zamfara election ruling, which shifted victory from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its 2020 Bayelsa decision that removed David Lyon from office shortly before inauguration.
The Minister also questioned why candidates who secured nominations under the faction he described as the ADC’s original leadership should be excluded because of the dispute.
“Are those Nigerians who successfully won their primaries under the faction of the original owners of the ADC lesser humans or lesser Nigerians than David Mark and Atiku Abubakar?” he wrote.
Keyamo’s comments followed his earlier assertion that “heavens will not fall” if Atiku is not on the 2027 ballot.
He maintained that the law should be decided on facts rather than sentiment and warned against efforts to pressure the judiciary.
The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) has said it will await a certified copy of the judgment before determining its position on the ADC’s leadership crisis and Atiku’s candidacy.
The final resolution is likely to determine not only Atiku’s presidential candidacy but also the validity of the ADC’s primaries and the eligibility of other candidates seeking to run on its platform in 2027.
