Ex-SGF, Babachir Lawal, dumps ADC, says party "massively rigged" primaries to favour Atiku

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has resigned from the African Democratic Congress (ADC), alleging that the recently concluded primary elections were manipulated in favour of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

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In a post on his Facebook page, Mr Lawal said he left the party because the recently concluded presidential primaries were “massively rigged at all levels” to favour Atiku.

Atiku had emerged ADC’s presidential candidate after defeating Rotimi Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen. Both Messrs Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen rejected the result before it was collated.

“I sense a conspiracy of silence of which I want no part. Most members of the party are behaving as if this is the normal thing to do,” the postreads in part. “Results were just written or rewritten to favour him and his coven. Even where they allowed some semblance of (an) election to hold, the winners were simply replaced with members of his syndicate. In the real sense, it was a disgraceful charade.”

Mr Lawal said he could not remain in a party that he believes could deploy similar manipulation tactics during the 2027 general election.

“The man and his cabal are just irredentist Fulani and religious hegemonists. For me, working for Kachalla Atiku means giving Tinubu an automatic ticket to a second term, which gives me nightmares,” he said.

“I believe Tinubu might, comparatively speaking, end up a better Nigerian president than Kachalla Atiku could ever be (as bad as Tinubu currently is and possibly could ever be). The choice in 2027, it seems, will be a Morton’s fork.”

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The former SGF said he could not remain in a party that he believes could deploy similar tactics during the 2027 general election.

READ ALSO: Hayatu-Deen boycotts ADC presidential primary result announcement over alleged rigging

The politician also accused Atiku and his associates of pursuing ethnic and religious interests rather than national development.

According to him, supporting Atiku would amount to handing Tinubu an easy path to re-election in 2027.

“While I will be tweaking my plans for the future and consulting with like-minded colleagues on how to stop this incompetent octogenarian from coming close to the presidential office, I will in the meantime retire to my village farm…,” he added.

Mr Lawal resigned from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in June last year to join the newly formed ADC.

The former SGF, a northern Christian from Adamawa State, as Atiku, declined support for Tinubu, a Muslim, in the 2023 election because the president, who was at the time the APC candidate, picked another Muslim, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate.