ADC 2027: Beyond the Campaign List – The Politics of Inclusion, Capacity and Strategic Coordination -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

The ADC Presidential Campaign Council, announced on September 24, 2026, has been described by the campaign as a deliberately lean structure, comprising Kashim Ibrahim-Imam as Chairman, Nasir El-Rufai as Deputy Chairman, Senator Austin Akobundu as Director-General/Campaign Manager, six Deputy Directors-General, and 30 directors. Dele Momodu is assigned Media and Communications, while Dino Melaye is assigned Contact and Mobilization.

There is already a development that deserves careful consideration. Reports indicate that ADC National Youth Leader Sultan Bello resigned on September 24 following his omission from the campaign council. This should, however, be presented as his stated reason for resigning rather than as an established institutional explanation.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola and National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi were not included in the campaign council because, according to Phrank Shaibu, they are members of the National Working Committee (NWC) that constituted the campaign structure.

The ADC’s official website currently lists Aregbesola as National Secretary and Abdullahi as National Publicity Secretary, while Balarabe Rufai is listed as National Youth Leader. The discrepancy between the party’s website and reports identifying Sultan Bello as National Youth Leader is therefore something that should be handled cautiously in any serious analysis, without speculating beyond the available facts.

The Central Argument

The unveiling of the campaign structure presents an important opportunity for the ADC to examine not only who has been appointed, but also how the wider human, political and institutional resources of the party will be integrated into the campaign. A campaign structure is more than a list of appointments. It is a mechanism for converting political capital, institutional authority, grassroots networks, technical expertise, youth energy, women’s mobilization and diaspora resources into electoral capacity.

Therefore, while a campaign structure must remain lean, functional and accountable, it must also be sufficiently inclusive to ensure that people with established responsibilities, networks and constituencies are not inadvertently disconnected from the campaign process.

The question before the ADC is not whether every prominent individual must occupy a position in the campaign council. Rather, it is whether every significant source of political capacity has a defined place within the broader campaign architecture.

One final factual point also deserves careful consideration. Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has reportedly said that he was not consulted about his inclusion in the campaign structure, according to a September 24 report. If accurately reported, this further underscores the importance of effective stakeholder communication. It also suggests that the appearance of a person’s name on a campaign list should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that the individual was consulted or had agreed to the assignment.

1. A Lean Structure Should Not Become an Exclusionary Structure

The campaign has defended the structure as lean, disciplined and focused on clearly defined responsibilities. There is nothing inherently wrong with a lean campaign structure. In fact, clearly defined responsibilities can improve accountability, reduce duplication and make decision-making more efficient.

However, being lean does not necessarily mean limiting participation to a small circle of personalities. There should be a distinction between the core campaign management team and the wider political mobilization architecture. People who are not appointed as directors or deputy directors can still have formally recognized roles in advisory, mobilization, stakeholder engagement, youth, women, diaspora, regional or grassroots structures.

The objective should therefore be to create an efficient structure without unnecessarily creating the perception that important political actors have been excluded from the larger project.

2. Party Structure and Campaign Structure Are Not Necessarily the Same

This is particularly relevant to the positions of the National Secretary and National Publicity Secretary. The explanation attributed to Phrank Shaibu is that Aregbesola and Abdullahi were not included because they are members of the NWC that constituted the campaign structure. That explanation may be administratively understandable. However, political communication is not determined solely by organizational charts.

A national officer who is not listed as a member of the campaign council can still play an important role. What matters is that the relationship between the party structure and the campaign structure is clearly defined and communicated.

Otherwise, legitimate questions may arise as follows:

– Is the national officer part of the campaign?
– What exactly is his or her responsibility?
– Who speaks for the party, and who speaks for the campaign?
– Who coordinates with the various campaign directorates?
– How does the NWC interface with the Presidential Campaign Council?
– How are decisions and information communicated between both structures?

The solution does not necessarily require every national officer to be placed on the campaign council. It may simply require a clearly defined institutional interface between the NWC and the campaign council.

3. The Sultan Bello Episode and the Importance of Stakeholder Management

Reports that National Youth Leader Sultan Bello resigned shortly after the campaign structure was released, citing his exclusion, should prompt the party to examine how appointments and omissions are communicated to its stakeholders.

The important issue is not simply one individual’s reaction. The broader organizational question is: How many people may interpret an omission as rejection if there is no prior communication, explanation or subsequent clarification?

In a political organization preparing for a major national election, stakeholder management is not a peripheral issue. It is part of campaign strategy. People who have invested time, networks, resources and political capital in building a party need to understand how their contributions fit into the next phase of the political project.

4. Recognition Matters Because Politics Runs on Networks, Not Only Titles

A politician brings more than a title.

Political actors may bring:

– Personal political networks;
– Ward and grassroots structures;
– Relationships with local influencers;
– Professional networks;
– Donor and supporter relationships;
– Youth networks;
– Women’s networks;
– Diaspora connections;
– Media relationships;
– Intellectual and policy networks; and
– Relationships across political parties, regions and communities.

Campaign architecture should therefore identify where these networks fit into the overall electoral strategy.

The question should not simply be:

Who gets an appointment?

The more important strategic question is:

Which political assets does the campaign possess, and where are those assets being deployed?

That distinction can help the party move beyond the politics of titles and toward the politics of capacity.

5. Youth Representation Deserves Particular Attention

The published campaign structure has attracted commentary about the apparent absence of youth representation among some of its named leadership and operational positions.

This deserves consideration beyond the question of any individual appointment.

Young people constitute a major component of Nigeria’s electorate and political mobilisation ecosystem. A campaign seeking to build a nationwide grassroots organisation requires effective mechanisms for:

– Youth mobilization;
– Digital mobilization;
– Campus and community networks;
– Volunteer coordination;
– Election-day mobilization;
– Voters’ education;
– Social-media communication; and
– Rapid-response communication.

Therefore, the question should not merely be whether a particular youth leader has been given a title. The more strategic question is whether young Nigerians have a clearly defined and meaningful operational pathway into the campaign.

6. Diaspora Should Not Be Treated as Merely Symbolic

The ADC should also consider a properly coordinated Diaspora and International Engagement platform or advisory structure.

Such a structure could cover:

– Nigerians abroad;
– Professional networks;
– International advocacy;
– Policy expertise;
– Diaspora communications;
– Technology and digital strategy;
– International media engagement;
– Investment and professional networks; and
– Engagement with global Nigerian communities.

There have also been public discussions associating Prof. Isa Odidi with ADC’s broader 2027 political calculations. However, such reports should be distinguished from formal party appointments or designations.

Prof. Isa Odidi can nevertheless be cited as an example of the kind of diaspora-based political, professional and intellectual resource that a modern political campaign should know how to engage effectively.

The broader principle is that diaspora participation should be organised around measurable contribution and defined responsibilities rather than merely symbolic recognition.

7. The Campaign Should Distinguish Between Appointment and Deployment

Someone does not necessarily need a prominent title to make a meaningful contribution.

However, every significant political asset should have a channel through which that capacity can be deployed.

The real test of the campaign structure should therefore not be the number of names on the list, but whether people who possess political capacity, grassroots reach, professional expertise and institutional responsibility have clearly defined channels through which their abilities can contribute to the campaign.

This distinction is important because an effective campaign is ultimately about mobilisation, coordination and delivery—not simply the accumulation of titles.

8. Communication after Appointments Is Almost as Important as the Appointments Themselves

The campaign has said that the structure was designed around clear responsibilities, accountability and measurable results. Those principles should extend to communication.

Following the announcement of the structure, the party and campaign should clearly communicate:

– Who reports to whom?
– How the campaign relates to the NWC;
– How state structures relate to the national campaign;
– Where youth mobilization sits;
– Where women’s mobilization sits;
– How diaspora engagement is coordinated;
– How candidates and party executives interact with the Presidential Campaign Council; and
– How grassroots feedback reaches the campaign leadership and presidential candidate.

Clear communication can reduce speculation, prevent avoidable misunderstandings and ensure that political actors understand how they are expected to contribute.

9. The Importance of a Two-Way Feedback Mechanism

A serious national campaign should have a bottom-up feedback mechanism, not merely a top-down communication structure.

Information should flow from:

Candidate → Campaign Leadership → State/Regional Structures → LGAs/Wards → Grassroots

But it should also flow in the opposite direction:

Grassroots → Ward → LGA → State → National Campaign → Candidate

Without the second channel, campaign leadership can become disconnected from developments on the ground.

This is particularly important in a country as politically diverse and geographically complex as Nigeria. Information from grassroots structures can help national leadership identify emerging concerns, assess mobilization, understand local dynamics and make timely adjustments.

Seemingly small organisational mistakes can become significant political problems if they are not identified and corrected early.

10. Review Should Not Be Interpreted as Weakness

Political organizations should not be afraid to review their decisions. A review is not necessarily an admission of failure. It can be evidence of institutional maturity and an ability to adapt to new information.

The ADC can maintain a lean campaign structure while still:

– Reviewing omissions;
– Clarifying responsibilities;
– Creating additional functional committees;
– Strengthening youth and women’s mobilization;
– Incorporating diaspora engagement;
– Creating advisory mechanisms;
– Establishing stronger NWC/campaign coordination; and
– Strengthening grassroots feedback mechanisms.

Such adjustments would not necessarily require dismantling the existing structure. Rather, they could help broaden its reach, clarify its internal relationships and ensure that the party’s available political capacity is effectively deployed.

Conclusion

The 2027 election will require more than prominent names on a campaign list. It will require coordination between the party hierarchy, campaign leadership, elected and aspiring politicians, grassroots structures, youth, women, professionals, diaspora networks and other stakeholders.

The ADC therefore has an opportunity to demonstrate that political inclusion does not necessarily mean giving everyone a title. It means creating a system in which people with relevant political capacity know where they fit, what is expected of them and how their contribution connects to the larger objective.

The campaign structure should consequently be viewed as a starting point rather than a final destination. And as the campaign evolves, there should be room for review, clarification, consultation and strategic adjustment. The strength of any political organization is not that it never makes organizational mistakes, but that it is capable of identifying them early, learning from them and improving its systems before they become larger problems.

The ultimate question is not how many people appear on the campaign list. It is whether the entire political capacity available to the ADC is being effectively organized, coordinated and deployed.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK