Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) chieftain Babachir Lawal has accused African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar of rigging the ADC Presidential Primary, citing the alleged irregularities as the reason for his resignation from the party.
In an interview with Trust TV on Friday, Lawal alleged that votes cast for other contenders were swapped in Atiku’s favor during the primary exercise.
Recounting his stance during the process, the former SGF stated that he had backed former presidential aspirant Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, viewing him as the most qualified candidate among the contestants.
“Like my state, outrightly, from day one, my preference was for Hayatu-Deen. No doubt about that because I considered him the most capable among all the aspirants,” he said.
Lawal clarified that while serving as the party’s state vice-chairman at the time, he participated in establishing a seven-member committee tasked with overseeing the primary elections.
He explained that under party rules, the central leadership was mandated to appoint the committee’s chairman and secretary, while the state branch was responsible for recommending the remaining five members.
Lawal maintained that he backed Hayatu-Deen out of a conviction that he would secure the nomination, noting that the candidate had already won in his state. However, he charged that the results were altered during the collation phase, with votes originally cast for Hayatu-Deen illegally credited to Atiku.
Backstory…
The dispute deepened on June 1, when former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, resigned from the ADC.
Lawal alleged that the ADC Presidential Primary had been “massively rigged” in favour of Atiku and his allies, claiming that results were written or altered and that some candidates who won at lower levels were allegedly replaced. He said he did not want to remain part of what he described as a “rigging machine” ahead of the 2027 election.
However, Atiku’s camp rejected the allegation, arguing that Lawal had produced no evidence, documents or verifiable witnesses to substantiate his claims.
Atiku himself said that if Lawal believed the primary had been manipulated, he should have presented evidence to the party rather than making public accusations.
Read Also: Babachir Lawal Exits ADC, Claims Atiku’s Primary Was Fraudulent
