Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, and chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Babachir Lawal, has accused the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, of manipulating the ADC presidential primary, saying the alleged irregularities prompted his departure from the party.
Lawal made the allegation in an interview with Trust TV on Friday.
He alleged that votes cast for other presidential aspirants were swapped in favour of Atiku during the exercise.
Speaking about his experience, the former SGF said he supported former presidential aspirant, Hayatu-Deen, whom he considered the most capable among the contenders.
“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.
He explained that he was the party’s state vice-chairman at the time and participated in the process of constituting a seven-member committee to conduct the primaries.
According to him, the party’s guidelines provided for the appointment of the chairman and the secretary, while the state was expected to nominate the remaining five members.
Lawal said he backed Hayatu-Deen because he believed the aspirant would win the primary, adding that Hayatu-Deen also won in his state.
However, he alleged that the results were altered during the collation process, with votes recorded for Hayatu-Deen being credited to Atiku.
“When they started filtering out the results, I found out that they were declaring Atiku. Then I found out that the result for Hayatu-Deen was credited to Atiku,” he said.
Lawal said he questioned the alleged alteration but was told that the party could not afford to disgrace Atiku, whom he described as its leader.
He added that his attempts to protest the alleged manipulation were unsuccessful, as some party members urged him to accept the situation.
Lawal maintained that the alleged manipulation of the ADC presidential primary was the reason he left the party.
Atiku rigged ADC presidential primaries – Babachir lawal alleges