Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal has formally left the African Democratic Congress (ADC), alleging that party officials manipulated the recent presidential primary in favour of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Lawal said in a statement on Monday that party leaders “massively rigged” the recently concluded ADC primaries in favour of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his allies.
Recall that Last month, the ADC conducted direct primaries nationwide to select its candidates for the Senate, House of Representatives, governorship, and state Houses of Assembly elections ahead of 2027.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and former Managing Director of the defunct FSB International Bank, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, emerged as the leading contenders in the party’s presidential primary.
According to reports, Atiku polled 1,846,370 votes to defeat Amaechi, who garnered 504,117 votes, while Hayatu-Deen got 177,120 votes.
Following this, Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen subsequently rejected the election outcome and boycotted the announcement of the ADC presidential results in Abuja.
‘RESULTS WRITTEN IN ATIKU’S FAVOUR’
In addition, Babachir Lawal said he does not want to be associated with any rigging plan in the 2027 elections, adding that working for Atiku means “giving Tinubu an automatic ticket to a second term, which gives me nightmares”.
He further stated Tinubu would eventually make a better president than Atiku.
Lawal described Atiku as incompetent, adding that he will work against the former vice-president in the 2027 elections.
