The Presidency has disclosed that President Bola Tinubu will choose his running mate in the 2027 election only after formally accepting the All Progressives Congress’ nomination during its convention in 2026.

Special Adviser to the President on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this on Thursday in an interview with Daily Trust newspaper.

Onanuga dismissed the concern that presidency has remained silent over the omission of Vice President Kashim Shettima from a wave of endorsements for Tinubu.

According to him, the speculation of a rift between Tinubu and Shettima was baseless.

“When I read the report, I dismissed it as a non issue. In a presidential system, the candidate emerges first and then selects a running mate. That’s what happened under Buhari – he was nominated first and later picked his running mate. You don’t do both at once.

“Once INEC releases the timetable, the party convention will hold, and if the president is nominated again, he will choose his run-ning mate,” he said.

The National Opposition Coalition Group, has formally applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the registration of a new political party, the All Democratic Alliance, ADA.

The opposition coalition is led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.

The coalition’s application dated June 19, was acknowledged by INEC on Friday.

This indicates the intentions of the coalition to float a new platform.

The formation of ADA, backed by some other key political heavyweights, including former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and Umar Ardo, convener of the League of Northern Democrats and former aide to President Olusegun Obasanjo, seeks to capitalise on mounting public dissatisfaction and political realignments to stop President Bola Tinubu at the next poll.

The application comes just a few days after INEC warned political groups that no amount of pressure or public sentiment would override the need for strict compliance with constitutional and electoral guidelines.

The application letter was jointly signed by the association’s Protem National Chairman, Chief Akin A. Rickets, and Protem National Secretary, Abdullahi Elayo.

The letter partly read, “We respectfully write to the Independent National Electoral Commission, requesting the registration of our association, the All Democratic Alliance, as a political party.

“This is a sequel to the decision taken by the Nigerian National Coalition Group to sponsor our association for full registration.

After weeks of deliberations, the Nigeria National Coalition Group, NNCG, has formally applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, seeking for the registration of a new political party with the name All Democratic Alliance, ADA.

The application letter, dated 19th June, 2025, was stamped received by INEC on 20 June, 2025.

A copy of the letter, which was signed by the association’s Protem National Chairman, Chief Akin A. Rickets, was sighted by Vanguard in Abuja on Friday.

The letter read in part: “Application For Registration As A Political Party.

“We respectfully write to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, requesting the registration of our association, the All Democratic Alliance, ADA, as a political party.

“This is sequel to the decision taken by the Nigerian National Coalition Group to sponsor our association for full registration.

“The name of the party shall be All Democratic Alliance with ADA as our acronym and ‘Justice for All’ as our slogan.

“The National Secretariat of the party is as stated at the bottom of the association’s letterhead used in this application.

“We have further attached our manifesto encompassing details of our party ideology, and our constitution providing the legal framework that defines our identity, structures and organization, regulates our affairs and guides our actions in alignment with Section 40 and 222 of the Constitution, Section 75 of the Electoral Act (2022) and global democratic principles and objectives.

“Please find attached the following documents: our party flag depicting our name, acronym and slogan, manifesto, constitution and minutes of meeting.

“While we eagerly await further action from the commission on the next step forward towards attaining our desired goal, please accept the consideration of our highest respect. Thank you yours most sincerely; Chief Akin A. Rickets, Protem National Chairman.”

Members

Members of the anti-Tinubu coalition include: Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; ex-Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi; his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir El-Rufai; the convener of the League of Northern Democrats, Dr. Umar Ardo, and a host of others.

The group had considered joining an existing political party which saw the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and the Social Democratic Party, SDP, jostling to out do each other to be considered.

However, several members of the coalition expressed concerns over the internal wrangling within existing parties, which in some cases had led to litigations.

The coalition subsequently set up a committee to also consider the option of registering a completely new platform where all members will start on equal footing in terms of membership.

The committee, which was headed by former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi submitted its report about a week ago with a recommendation in favour of registering a new party.