By Jonathan Nda-Isaiah, Ademu Idakwo, Henry Tyohemba, Moses Orjime, NICHOLAS DEKERA, JIBRIL MOHAMMED NABIL, Green Mbah, OKECHUKWU OBETA, Alo Abiola
The presidential primaries of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ran into a hitch as two aspirants, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and renowned economist, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, rejected the outcome of the exercise.
While Amaechi described the results from the exercise as concocted, Hayatu-Deen said it was marred by rigging.
Their objections came as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar maintained an unssailable lead as the results of the primaries conducted in over 8,000 wards across the country, were being collated yesterday.
Amaechi, Hayatu-Deen Protest
Amaechi rejected the outcome of the party’s presidential primaries, describing the results as “concocted”. He also alleged widespread disenfranchisement of party members during the exercise.
Amaechi, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said he would not accept the outcome of a process that failed to meet the standards of fairness, transparency and credibility promised by the party.
He stated that he had earlier made it clear that he would only accept the results of the primaries if the process was free, fair and transparent.
“Following reports of widespread voter disenfranchisement in most parts of the country during the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primaries yesterday, I unequivocally reject the concocted results being announced,” Amaechi said.
“I had initially stated that I will only accept the outcome of the primaries if the process was free, fair and transparent, and I stand by my word.”
The former Rivers State governor alleged that a large percentage of party members were denied the opportunity to participate in the exercise.
“There’s no way that about 80 per cent of members of the party were not allowed to vote, and you expect me to accept such results,” he stated.
Amaechi said the ADC was formed to provide Nigerians with an alternative political platform capable of addressing the challenges facing the country.
According to him, the party was expected to stand against impunity and electoral malpractice, not replicate the same practices it had accused others of perpetrating.
“The whole idea of the ADC was to give the Nigerian people a platform to amplify the voices of the downtrodden and make Nigeria a better place for everyone irrespective of background, ethnicity or religion,” he said.
He further accused the party of engaging in practices such as vote-buying, manipulation of results and other irregularities.
“A party that criticises the ruling APC and INEC for vote-buying, rigging and writing results cannot engage in vote-buying, writing results and other electoral malpractices that lead to the disenfranchisement of voters who are party members. This is not acceptable!” he added.
Earlier, Hayatu-Deen declared that he would not attend the official declaration of results from the party’s presidential primaries, citing concerns over alleged irregularities in the voting process.
Hayatu-Deen said reports of widespread vote rigging had emerged from different parts of the country, adding that he personally witnessed some of the alleged infractions during the exercise.
“I will not be attending the announcement of the ADC presidential election results today,” he said.
