Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has resigned from the African Democratic Congress (ADC), alleging that the party’s presidential primary was manipulated in favour of Atiku Abubakar.
Atiku emerged as the ADC presidential candidate after polling 1,846,370 votes to defeat Rotimi Amaechi, who secured 504,117 votes.
Mohammed Hayatudeen came third with 177,120 votes.
In a statement announcing his resignation, Lawal claimed the primary election was “massively rigged” in favour of Atiku.
“I am exiting the ADC because its just concluded primaries were at all levels massively rigged in favour of Abubakar Atiku,” he said.
“I sense a conspiracy of silence of which I want no part.”
The former SGF alleged that election results were altered to favour Atiku and his supporters.
“Results were just written or rewritten to favour him and his coven,” he said.
“Even where they allowed some semblance of election to hold, the winners were simply replaced with members of his syndicate. In the real sense, it was a disgraceful charade.”
Lawal said he could not remain in a party he believed would repeat the same conduct during the 2027 general election.
“I do not intend to be part of Atiku’s rigging machine in the 2027 general elections and I cannot avoid doing so if I remain in the party,” he said.
MORE ACCUSATIONS
He accused Atiku and his associates of pursuing ethnic and religious interests, describing them as “irredentist Fulani and religious hegemonists”.
Lawal argued that an Atiku presidency would be worse for Nigeria than a second term for President Bola Tinubu.
“For me, working for Atiku means giving Tinubu an automatic ticket to a second term,” he said.
“I believe Tinubu might, comparatively speaking, end up a better Nigerian president than Atiku could ever be.”
The former SGF also accused northern political actors of backing Atiku despite what he described as the region’s worsening economic and security conditions.
“I would have thought that the Northerners who helped rig the primaries for a near-senile octogenarian they all know to be an incompetent, tribal and religious bigot would be the ones who should crave the most a good post-2027 governance,” he said.
Lawal said he would temporarily withdraw from active politics and consult with allies on the next steps.
“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 said.
He added that he expected Atiku and the ADC leadership to be defeated by the APC in the next election.
“Then, it will be bye-bye to this octogenarian presidential wannabe,” Lawal said.
