The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has postponed the collation of results for its presidential primary election.

Ikechi Emenike, chairman of the ADC presidential primary election committee, announced the postponement of the exercise on Tuesday night after more than four hours of result collation at the congress hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

The ADC conducted a nationwide direct primary on Monday to pick its candidate for the 2027 presidential election, with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, former managing director of the defunct FSB International Bank, and Rotimi Amaechi as the main contenders.

Emenike said the decision was made to allow Muslim party members to observe Eid-el-Kabir, adding that collation will resume at 8pm today.

From the results collated so far, Abubakar has secured 1,390,276 votes, while Amaechi has 248,455 votes and Hayatu-Deen has 156,075 votes.

Abubakar is leading in 22 states — Kebbi, Anambra, Abia, Ekiti, Ondo, Gombe, Oyo, Imo, Yobe, Nasarawa, Enugu, Benue, Osun, Kogi, Taraba, Kano, Adamawa, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Niger, Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Amaechi is ahead in Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi states.

The exercise is steeped in controversy, with Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen rejecting the results over alleged irregularities and voter disenfranchisement.