ADC supporters protest alleged plan to replace Adamawa governorship candidate

Many members and supporters of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) from across Adamawa State gathered in Yola on Wednesday and staged a street protest over growing rumours of plans to substitute the party’s governorship candidate, Omar Suleiman.

The candidate and his supporters have, for the past couple of weeks, faced speculation that he would be replaced, first by a former governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdulrahman Haske, and more recently by another politician, Modibbo Tukur.

In reaction to the continued tension over the alleged substitution plan, party members mobilised by a group, Frontier Movement 774, marched through the streets of Yola, urging an end to any move to replace Omar Suleiman, popularly known as Omarana.

The protesters converged in the early hours of the day and marched through major streets, displaying placards with messages including ‘Don’t Forcefully Remove our Candidate’, ‘Respect Party Democracy’, ‘Omarana Is the People’s Choice’, ‘No to Candidate Substitution’, and ‘No Removal, No Substitution’.

The protesters ended their march at the ADC state secretariat in Jimeta, where some of their leaders addressed the gathering.

The Chairman of Frontier Movement 774, Madu Umar, said ordinary members of the ADC were unhappy that the party’s duly elected governorship candidate had been denied peace of mind by rumours of a possible substitution.

He said the protest was aimed at drawing the attention of the party leadership at both state and national levels to the dangers of attempting to replace a candidate already chosen through the party’s established process.

Also speaking, one of the protest leaders, Mrs Damaris Yalawa, said, “Omarana is the one we chose. We don’t know what some people are up to; but we know that it is Omarana that we elected as our candidate for 2027 and on him we insist.”

Two other protest leaders also spoke at the ADC secretariat, with some appealing to the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to intervene. However, none of them openly accused Atiku of being involved in the alleged move.

This differs from unconfirmed street speculation suggesting that Atiku may not be unaware of behind-the-scenes efforts to alter the ADC governorship candidacy in his home state.

Wednesday’s protest in Yola came barely 24 hours after an ADC stalwart warned of serious consequences if the party’s candidate was changed in the manner being alleged.

The stalwart, Suleiman Adamu Jimeta, said the reported plan to bring in Tukur Modibbo, with some party stakeholders allegedly supporting the move, should be disregarded, as no such decision had been communicated through any recognised channel.

He described the rumoured move as a recipe for confusion and internal division, warning that it could significantly weaken the party’s chances in next year’s elections.

ADC supporters protest alleged plan to replace Adamawa governorship candidate