The Adamawa State governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Omar Suleiman, has affirmed that he remains in the governorship race.

The affirmation came on Friday, hours after speculation emerged that he had decided to abandon his ambition, largely due to the defection from the party of his main backer, Babachir Lawal.

Babachir, one of the two factional leaders of the ADC in Adamawa State (the other being the presidential ticket bearer, Atiku Abubakar), announced his defection earlier in the week, accusing Atiku of rigging the party’s primary elections to favour himself and his allies.

Responding to speculation that he was ditching his ADC governorship ambition to align with Babachir, Omar Suleiman said, “The news circulating about me stepping down for anyone is false, misleading, and entirely baseless.”

In a rebuttal signed on his behalf by his aide, Abdullahi Malgwi, Omar Suleiman urged the public, supporters, party members and the people of Adamawa State to disregard the speculation in its entirety.

“I remain fully committed to my campaign, my vision, and my unwavering determination to serve the people of Adamawa State,” he asserted.

Former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Sam Amadi, has said there is no significant difference between the opposition and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Featuring in an interview on News Central Television on Friday, Amadi said the majority of the politicians in the opposition sprang from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, apart from a few persons.

He was speaking on the level of preparedness by the various political parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.

According to him, primary elections in Nigeria have always been unfree and unfair, stating that the degree of chaos might differ.

“Well, I think we should start by admitting that the opposition parties are not different parties. See, the Nigerian political landscape is very clear. If you look at the proprietors of new parties, they are fully made up of the old party.

“I mean, everybody came from the PDP and had the PDP stamp, apart from a few persons, probably Tinubu, and a couple of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Buhari group, who never were part of PDP, the rest of the people you see today, either as ruling party or opposition, are from the PDP.

“There’s nothing in NDC or ADC or PRP or any party that is significantly different. There could be in the future, but right now, no,” he said.

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the 2027 Lagos State election, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, has appointed former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, as the Director-General of his campaign organisation.

Hamzat reportedly unveiled the appointment during an expanded meeting of the campaign council held in Lagos.

According to a report by Arise Television, President Bola Tinubu endorsed Obanikoro’s emergence during a recent meeting with APC stakeholders and officials in the state.

The president was said to have expressed confidence in Obanikoro’s capacity to coordinate the campaign, citing his extensive experience in public service and his record in both elective and appointive positions at the state and federal levels.

Obanikoro is a seasoned politician whose career spans several decades. He previously contested the Lagos governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and has held a number of strategic government positions.

His public service journey includes serving as Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture in 1999 during Tinubu’s tenure as governor.

He later represented Lagos Central Senatorial District in the Senate after winning the election in 2003 and served one term before being appointed Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Ghana in May 2008.

Obanikoro subsequently joined the federal cabinet in 2013 as Minister of State for Defence before being reassigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served as Minister of State.