Northern Nigeria Leads ADC Membership Registration Drive Ahead of 2027 Elections

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is attracting most of its new members from northern Nigeria as the party expands its online registration ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Data from the exercise, which began on March 1, 2026, show that northern states account for the bulk of new registrants. As of March 11, a total of 652,143 people had registered nationwide. Of that number, 555,299 came from the North, while the South accounted for 96,844.

The figures were compiled from membership records across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

In the North East, 256,966 people have registered so far. Adamawa recorded the highest figure with 104,998 members, followed by Gombe with 61,632 and Bauchi with 41,024. Taraba posted 29,998 registrations, while Borno and Yobe recorded 11,100 and 8,214 respectively.

The North West has registered 201,398 members. Kaduna leads the zone with 64,748 registrations, followed by Katsina with 47,243 and Kano with 34,255. Kebbi recorded 19,867 members, Jigawa 14,699, Zamfara 10,497 and Sokoto 10,089.

In the North Central zone, 96,935 people have joined the party. Kogi recorded 26,766 registrations, Niger 23,039, Benue 15,870 and Nasarawa 12,690. The Federal Capital Territory has 8,998 members, while Plateau and Kwara recorded 5,625 and 3,947 respectively.

Across southern Nigeria, the numbers remain lower. The South South zone recorded 35,904 registrations, led by Rivers with 10,967 members. Cross River has 7,007 registrations, Delta 6,398, Akwa Ibom 5,733, Edo 4,189 and Bayelsa 1,610.

The South West has recorded 37,644 members so far. Lagos leads with 14,163 registrations, followed by Ondo with 7,651, Oyo with 7,347 and Ogun with 3,916. Osun recorded 3,470 members, while Ekiti has 1,097.

The South East recorded the lowest regional total with 23,296 members. Imo leads the zone with 7,902 registrations, followed by Anambra with 6,260 and Enugu with 4,565. Abia recorded 2,991 members, while Ebonyi posted 1,578.

The data indicate that northern registrations account for more than 70 percent of the party’s current membership list. Registrations in Adamawa, Kaduna and Gombe alone exceed the combined totals from the 17 southern states.

The registration drive comes ahead of the election schedule released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Under the timetable, political parties are required to submit their membership registers between April 1 and April 21 in line with Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, which requires submission not later than 300 days before an election.

Party primaries are scheduled to hold between April 23 and May 30, and only registered members will be eligible to participate. Section 84 of the Electoral Act allows parties to use either the direct or consensus method in selecting candidates.

INEC has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections for January 14, 2027, while governorship and state assembly elections will hold on February 6, 2027.

Three leading figures have so far been linked to the ADC presidential race: Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Chibuike Amaechi. All three have indicated their intention to contest the presidency, while Obi and Amaechi have ruled out accepting a vice-presidential slot.

In 2019, Atiku and Obi ran together as presidential and vice-presidential candidates under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but contested separately in the 2023 election after Obi moved to the Labour Party. Amaechi previously sought the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but lost the primary to Bola Tinubu.

Attempts to obtain comments from ADC officials and representatives of the other aspirants were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.