Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, on Monday exchanged verbal missiles over the conduct of the African Democratic Congress presidential primaries, which produced Atiku as the winner.
Atiku had last week polled a total of 1,846,370 votes to beat former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi and businessman-politician Mohammed Hayatu-Deen to the ADC presidential ticket, with the duo garnering 504,117 and 177,120 votes respectively.
Lawal, until recently, was a chieftain of the ADC and a key opposition figure in the broad coalition against President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
While announcing his resignation from the party on Monday, the former SGF slammed Atiku for allegedly influencing the outcome of the party’s primaries held across the country.
“I am exiting the ADC because its just concluded primaries were at all levels massively rigged in favour of Kachalla Abubakar Atiku.
“Results were just written or rewritten to favour him and his coven. Even where they allowed some semblance of an election to be held, the winners were simply replaced with members of his syndicate. In the real sense, it was a disgraceful charade,” Lawal said in a statement posted on his social media platforms.
The ex-SGF said the silence which greeted the primaries prompted him to speak and set the record straight.
“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 statement further read.
He vowed not to be part of any rigging plan in the 2027 elections, adding that working for Atiku is the same as “giving Tinubu an automatic ticket to a second term, which gives me nightmares.”
However, in a statement issued on behalf of the former Vice President by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the Atiku camp rejected claims that the ADC primary election was manipulated, insisting that the exercise reflected the will of party members across the country.
Atiku’s camp accused Lawal of attempting to malign both the party and its members without evidence.
“Having chosen to malign a democratic process, insult thousands of ADC members nationwide, and make grave allegations without presenting a shred of evidence, it has become necessary to set the record straight,” the statement said.
Shaibu argued that Lawal had failed to provide any proof to support his allegations of electoral manipulation.
“The truth is straightforward. The ADC presidential primaries were conducted across thousands of wards and produced a clear and decisive outcome.
“What Mr Lawal has offered Nigerians is not evidence. He has produced no documents, no verifiable facts, no credible witnesses, and no proof whatsoever to support his sensational allegations,” he said.
The Atiku camp also accused the former SGF of political inconsistency, pointing to what it described as his acceptance of outcomes from the same primary process in other contests.
“Mr Lawal has also failed to explain how the very same primary process he now dismissed as fraudulent somehow produced a result he appears perfectly willing to accept in Adamawa State, where his cousin, Omar Suleiman, emerged as the ADC governorship candidate.
“Nigerians are entitled to ask whether the process was only credible when it favoured his family and only rigged when it produced a presidential candidate he did not support,” the statement added.
It further took aim at Lawal’s public image as a critic of corruption and electoral malpractice, reviving controversies that trailed his tenure as SGF during the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is perhaps the greatest irony of this entire episode that Mr Babachir Lawal now seeks to reinvent himself as Nigeria’s newest apostle of integrity, transparency, and democratic virtue.
“Nigerians may forgive many things, but they seldom forget history. Mr Lawal is not remembered for any celebrated crusade for accountability.
“Rather, he remains one of the most prominent public officials ever removed from office under the cloud of the infamous grass-cutting contract scandal,” Shaibu said.
Lawal was removed from office in 2017 following allegations linked to contracts awarded through the Presidential Initiative on the North-East, a controversy that became widely known as the “grass-cutting scandal.”
He has consistently denied wrongdoing.
In the latest statement, Atiku’s camp argued that Lawal’s criticisms were driven more by dissatisfaction with the outcome of the primary than by genuine concerns about electoral integrity.
“What appears to have truly unsettled Mr Lawal is not the conduct of the primaries but the outcome. Democracy guarantees participation, not victory. One cannot celebrate democracy when it produces a preferred result and suddenly condemn it as rigged when it does not,” it said.
The statement also faulted what it described as Lawal’s resort to ethnic and religious sentiments in his criticisms of the primary.
“Having failed to persuade ADC members to embrace his preferred candidate, he now seeks refuge in the divisive politics of identity,” Shaibu said.
Such rhetoric, he argued, does little to address the country’s pressing challenges.
“It creates no jobs, lowers no food prices, secures no communities, and offers no pathway out of the national crisis,” he added.
Defending Atiku’s political credentials, Shaibu maintained that the 2027 election would be decided by Nigerians based on issues of governance, economic recovery and national security rather than internal party disputes.
“The Nigerian people know Atiku Abubakar. They know his record in public service. They know his achievements in business. They know his commitment to national unity and economic reform,” he stressed.
While insisting that Atiku remained focused on presenting solutions to Nigeria’s challenges, the statement concluded that no amount of post-primary controversy would alter the outcome of the ADC presidential contest.
“The 2027 election will not be decided by tantrums, ethnic dog whistles, recycled grievances, or revisionist history. It will be decided by the Nigerian people. And no amount of post-primary bitterness can alter that reality,” the statement added.
Hayatu-Deen rules out lawsuit
Hayatu-Deen has, however, ruled out a legal challenge to the outcome of the ADC presidential primary, despite alleging widespread irregularities and procedural breaches during the exercise.
In a post-primary statement released on Monday and titled “My campaign, the silent majority and the future of our democracy,” Hayatu-Deen said he had chosen party unity and the broader goal of building a credible opposition over personal political ambition.
His decision comes days after he dramatically distanced himself from the primary process by boycotting the announcement of the election results, citing reports of vote manipulation and concerns over the integrity of the exercise.
It also comes a day after the presidential candidate, Atiku, visited him in his Lagos residence.
In a statement posted on his social media platforms on May 26, before the commencement of result collation, Hayatu-Deen had declared, “I will not be attending the announcement of the ADC presidential election results today. I am concerned by reports from across the country of widespread vote rigging, some of which I myself observed.”
Questioning the party’s commitment to the democratic principles it advocates nationally, he added, “How can the ADC criticise INEC for election interference and the falsification of results, and yet tolerate the same within its own house? I will therefore be taking advice on my next steps.”
The remarks immediately fuelled speculation that the former presidential hopeful could seek legal redress or formally challenge the outcome of the primary.
However, in his latest statement, Hayatu-Deen said he had reached a different conclusion after consultations with supporters and stakeholders.
“I have decided, after careful reflection and wide consultation, that I will not challenge the outcome in court.
“Nigeria urgently requires a strong, credible and united opposition. That objective must always remain larger than individual ambition or temporary political disappointment,” he said.
While stopping short of providing specific details of the alleged irregularities, Hayatu-Deen maintained that the conduct of the primary failed to meet his expectations and said he had privately communicated his concerns to the leadership of the party.
“The outcome of the May 25 primary did not fully meet my expectations, and I have communicated my deep concerns about certain processes and procedural matters directly and privately to the leadership of the party,” he stated.
Hayatu-Deen, who first sought the presidency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2022 before joining the ADC, said he ventured into the race believing the party could offer Nigerians a different political culture anchored on integrity, ideology and internal democracy.
“I joined the ADC because I sincerely believed that the party represented an opportunity to build something different — a credible opposition movement anchored on a robust ideology, integrity, internal democracy and national renewal,” he said.
Throughout the campaign, he said his interactions with Nigerians across the country convinced him that many citizens still yearn for competent and principled leadership despite growing public frustration with the political class.
Despite his disappointment with the outcome of the primary, Hayatu-Deen urged his supporters not to abandon the values that shaped his campaign.
“What I will carry forward from this campaign is not bitterness, but gratitude,” he said, thanking volunteers, donors, party members and supporters across the country.
He also called on Nigerians not to lose faith in the country’s democratic future.
Hayatu-Deen concluded by insisting that although his presidential campaign had ended, the broader struggle for national renewal remained unfinished.
“This campaign may have come to an end, but the larger task of building a stronger, fairer and more prosperous Nigeria continues. And that cause remains worthy of our collective effort,” he said.
