On Saturday morning, reports swirled that Mark had been appointed as the interim national chairman of the party.

When contacted by TheCable, Nwosu neither confirmed nor denied Mark’s appointment, but said the party is undergoing a transition and will make an official announcement next week.

“ADC has been in transition for the last 18 months. Where we are going is to make sure that we can build it to a state where patriots and citizens of this country would believe that it is not business as usual — and people with the highest integrity and moral force would be put together to lead the way forward,” he said.

Nwosu, who has led the ADC since its inception, lauded Mark’s leadership pedigree and described him as a figure the party needs for stability ahead of the 2027 elections.

“The distinguished senator David Mark has served the country in different capacities, and he has displayed leadership and patriotism. That is the kind of leadership we want to showcase to our country moving forward,” he added.

“To build a stable, focused, disciplined culture in the political party, there is no better person than David Mark if he were to agree to do that patriotic job.

“It is not about zone, it is not about anything, it is about Nigeria. We have some decent men who have lived for Nigeria, and David Mark is one.

“He is, in any way, possibly the first exemplar of what we want to do for the country. But we will wait until next week. Everything would be clear to all Nigerians.”

Baba Abdullahi, ADC national secretary, also did not deny or confirm Mark’s appointment.

“It is not a hanging news, but let it be until it is presented well,” he said.

Mark, a retired army general, served as senate president from 2007 to 2015. He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and has not officially resigned from the party.

Since the start of the year, opposition leaders have been ramping up high-level consultations aimed at forging a united political front strong enough to challenge and possibly unseat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 presidential election.

Key figures involved in the coalition discussions include former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections; Nasir el-Rufai, former Kaduna governor; and Rotimi Amaechi, ex-Rivers governor.

In May, that opposition leaders agreed to adopt the ADC as a platform to run in the 2027 elections.