SPOTTED: Aregbesola missing from ADC presidential campaign council list
On Thursday, Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), constituted his campaign council for the 2027 elections.
The two-page list features several of Atiku’s allies and key ADC figures, including Rotimi Amaechi, his running mate; David Mark, the party’s national chairman; Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna state; and John Oyegun, former governor of Edo state.
“This is a structure built for work. Every directorate has a duty. Every director has an assignment. Every appointee must account for results,” Phrank Shaibu, media aide to Atiku, said in a statement.
However, a review of the list shows that Rauf Aregbesola, the ADC national secretary, and Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s national publicity secretary, are absent from the campaign council.
Aregbesola’s omission is particularly notable given his prominent position in the party’s national leadership and his role in its grassroots mobilisation.
On Thursday, he joined Atiku and other ADC leaders in Akure, Ondo state, for the reception of Eyitayo Jegede, a former governorship candidate, into the ADC.
Abdullahi told TheCable on Friday morning that the absence of some party leaders from the campaign council should not be interpreted as a sign of estrangement.
He said the party’s machinery must continue to function even as the campaign organisation gets into gear.
“There are so many party leaders whose names are not there. We play an important role in the party. So, it is not anything,” he said.
Abdullahi said it would be counterproductive for the party to strip its national structure of its key officials in the name of running the campaign.
However, TheCable understands that there has been an inhouse friction over the list.
Kashim Imam, who was made chairman of the national campaign council, and Dino Melaye played a key role in the compilation of the list, after which it was submitted to the to the ADC leadership for a review.
Aregbesola was said to have raised an objection on the composition and the structure, especially as party executives will now have to report to non-party executives, according to the organogram. He was reportedly shouted down by Melaye, who accused Aregbesola of not appreciating the work done on the list.
