Here we go again: the next presidential election is set to be a re-enactment of the 2023 fixture. It was a three-way fight involving Candidates Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party — with an honourable mention of Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). The trio are back as presidential candidates in 2027, with Tinubu still of the APC, while Atiku is now of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and Obi of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) — and Kwankwaso has teamed up with Obi and is poised to be his vice-presidential candidate.
I cannot pretend to be surprised by the 2027 presidential fixture. In August 2025, I wrote, in an article entitled ‘Looking Like Tinubu vs Atiku vs Obi Again’, that Tinubu would pick the APC ticket (really, that was a no-brainer) but added: “It also looks certain that Atiku will pick the ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), where opposition figures are coalescing. Mr Peter Obi, who put up an incredible performance in 2023, is still weighing his options. Should he leave the Labour Party for the ADC? Does he stand a chance of getting the ADC ticket? The elephant in the room, though, is: should he accept to be running mate to Atiku again?” Obi left for the ADC but later moved to the NDC.
