For The Past 3years; What We’ve Been Doing Is To Make Sure We Win 2027 On First Ballot — Ibrahim Abdulkarim

Ibrahim Abdulkarim, Director-General of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential Campaign Council, has said the party has been working towards winning the 2027 presidential election on the first ballot, insisting that opposition collaboration does not necessarily have to take place under the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Abdulkarim made the remarks during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

He said the party had spent the past three years working towards its electoral objective, adding that its strategy was focused on securing victory without the need for a second ballot. “But what I told you for the past three years, day, night, what we’ve been doing is to make sure that we win 2027 on the first ballot,” Abdulkarim said.

He challenged the narrative that opposition parties must first unite under a single coalition platform before they could defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). “So every other person that is telling you the narration that the opposition has to come together for us to win, the opposition have already come together,” he stated.

Abdulkarim further argued that there was no requirement for opposition parties and politicians to make the ADC the centre of their proposed alliance. “Nobody said the coalition must happen on ADC. It can happen in NDC,” he said.

The NDC campaign council director-general also cited Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as an example of the collaboration he said was already underway. “And Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has already dropped his ambition. He’s part of the four contenders in 2023. He has already accepted to work with Mr Peter Obi. So we have already started,” Abdulkarim said.

Abdulkarim also called on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to join the effort, saying the participation of additional political figures could help strengthen the alliance’s reach and influence across the country. “What we are asking for other people to join us, including the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, to join all of us so that at least we will have the spread that they think they can add the energy,” he added.