The national leadership of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), led by Senator Seriake Dickson, on Saturday unveiled a former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections.
Following his adoption as the presidential candidate of the NDC, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party announced a former Kano governor and former Minister of Defence, Musa Kwakwanso, as his running mate.
Obi’s adoption has set up a three-way election rematch.
It came days after President Bola Tinubu President Bola Tinubu secured the ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress, after a landslide victory in the party’s nationwide direct primary conducted across the country’s 8,809 wards in all 774 local government areas.
Tinubu polled 10,999,162 votes to defeat his only challenger, businessman Stanley Osifo, who scored 16,503 votes.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had on Wednesday been declared the winner of the presidential primary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The ADC said Atiku polled 1,846,370 votes to beat his closest rival, former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi, who polled 504,117 votes.
Atiku and Obi joined the ADC in July 2025 along with other opposition figures as part of a broader opposition realignment aimed at wresting power from President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections.
But the former Anambra governor defected to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) with Kwankwaso.
Obi’s emergence will see him square up against Tinubu and Atiku in the race to Aso Rock on January 16, 2027.
His defection to the NDC along with Kwankwaso has transformed the party into a leading opposition movement in recent weeks, as the two leaders moved in with their supporters — the Obidient Movement and the Kwankwasiyya Movement, respectively.
The former governor has who hails from the South East region of Nigeria, at different fora, said that he would serve for only one term if elected, a decision that attracted criticism, especially from the ruling APC.
In the February 2023 presidential election, Obi came third with 6.10 million (25.40 per cent), behind Tinubu’s 8.79 million votes (36.61 per cent), and Atiku’s (then of the Peoples Democratic Party) 6.98 million votes (29.07 per cent).
