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…Atiku Scores 1,846,370 Votes; Amaechi, 504,117; Hayatu-Deen, 177,120
ABUJA – Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s election as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate ahead of the 2027 election has triggered widespread backlash within the party, with many members already rejecting his candidacy, saying the primaries were not free, fair, and credible.
Some party chieftains told Daily Independent that with how Atiku emerged, there is a groundswell of discontent which may work against the party in the 2027 elections.
Announcing the results last night on Wednesday, Chairman, Presidential Primaries Election Committee of ADC, Chief Ikechi Emenike, said total registered members are 3, 113,599. He noted that Atiku scored 1, 846,370 votes, Amaechi scored 504, 117, while Hayatu-Deen got 177, 120 votes.
The primary election that brought Atiku on board as the party’s flag bearer has been called to question by other contenders and their supporters, who felt they have been rigged out of the race.
Specifically, Rotimi Amaechi listed manipulation of results, process failed to reflect the values ADC pledged to uphold, eighty percent of members of the party not allowed to vote, vote buying, rigging and writing of results, as reasons for rejecting the primaries.
This is even as Mohammed Hayatu-Deen listed widespread vote rigging as his excuse for rejecting the primary election.
Amaechi had in his X-handle said: “Following reports of widespread voter disenfranchisement in most parts of the country during the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primaries yesterday (Monday), I unequivocally reject the concocted results being announced.
“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. I will not accept results from a process that does not reflect the values that the ADC had pledged to uphold, to rescue Nigerians from the impunity and gross mismanagement that our country is currently facing in the hands of the ruling party.
“There’s no way that about eighty percent of members of the party were not allowed to vote, and you expect me to accept such results. Then what makes us different from the others? 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 backgrounds, ethnicity, or religion.
“A party that criticises the ruling APC and INEC for vote buying, rigging and writing of results, cannot be engaged in vote buying, writing of results, and other electoral malpractices that leads to the disenfranchisement of voters who are party members. This is not acceptable!”
Also rejecting the presidential primary election, Hayatu-Deen had in his X-handle said: “I will not be attending the announcement of the ADC Presidential Election Results today (Tuesday).
“I am concerned by reports from across the country of widespread vote rigging, some of which I myself observed, and will therefore be taking advice on my next steps.”
Aside the duo, a chieftain of ADC, who said he witnessed what transpired during the presidential primary, described it as a brazen, shameless auction that betrayed every value the ADC promised to uphold.
The ADC chieftain, who is also one of the core supporters of Ameachi’s presidential bid, Comrade Ibrahim Garba Wala, expressed support for the rejection of the primary election process by his principal.
Comrade Wala, who monitored the presidential primary election in Gombe State, said, “What we witnessed during the primary elections was not a democratic primary; it was a brazen, shameless auction that betrayed every value the ADC promised to uphold.”
Comrade Wala, in a post on his Facebook page on Wednesday, said while ADC publicly criticises the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for vote-buying and result-writing, “the actors sent to conduct our own primaries became the very monsters we swore to fight.”
He called on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to immediately wash off his hands off what he described as “dirty, concocted primary election results.”
He said: “From my desk in Gombe, I submit to the public and party faithful the clear, undisputed evidence of irregularities and voter disenfranchisement that unfolded under my watch as follows:
“The Influx of Hungry Committee Members. The primary election committees deployed by the party leadership behaved less like custodians of a democratic process and more like an army of hungry political mercenaries. Their open, shameless displays of corrupt practices were an insult to the dignity of ordinary party members.
“The Hotel Situation Room. The brazenness was astonishing. I was personally approached by an agent offering to take me to the committee leadership’s hotel room to secure whatever I needed. This hotel room was treated exactly like a clandestine situation room where the state party leadership retired after their field day to finish their manipulative work behind closed doors.
“Weaponizing Religion and Region Against the Poor. In a state as beautifully diverse as Gombe, we watched a calculated political takeover that weaponised religious and regional sentiments to manipulate vulnerable electorate. In several mixed-faith wards and communities, the process was engineered so that only a homogeneous crowd of predominantly Muslim men and women were present, without a single Christian or representative of other native tribes in attendance. (This very reality confirms the widely circulated rumour which says that traditional leaders and religious groups were handsomely rewarded in achieving the desired outcome).
“The Provocative Regional Agenda. Top party officials openly dropped their cloaks of neutrality, brazenly taunting stakeholders with regional challenges. They mockingly questioned whether a candidate like Atiku Abubakar would ever be accorded a single vote in Amaechi’s home state or region, proving that national unity was discarded for parochial sentiments.
“Crude, Audacious Vote-buying. The monetary inducement on display was not hidden or subtle; it was crude, aggressive, and carried out with complete audacity.
“Victimisation of New Aspirants. The greatest casualties of this daylight robbery were our young, fresh political aspirants. They came into this process believing in the alternative platform of the ADC, only to end up as the poor, bruised victims of old-school election rigging.
“Let us be completely clear about what is happening here: the primary beneficiary of these corrupt, engineered primaries is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. This is by no means a coincidence. This systemic manipulation is part of the very reason why several prominent, principled politicians ran out of the party in the first place. It has become painfully clear that Atiku is desperate, and is willing to go to any length to secure his last chance at a just four-year tenure.”
While calling on Atiku to distance himself from the process, Wala said: “He must know, deep down, that the so-called result is a forbidden fruit, one that is highly poisonous to the very democracy the ADC preaches to every Nigerian.
“As a Muslim, especially on this sacred day of Eid, Atiku must remind himself of the ultimate truth, that in the moment of eternal accountability before the Almighty, no political supporter, rented crowd, or party friend can be called upon to save him from the weight of injustice.
“How can we claim to offer a rescue mission for Nigeria when we are practising the same impunity that brought the nation to its knees? If we disenfranchise eighty percent of our own members to serve a desperate personal ambition, what makes us different from the status quo?
“On this sacred day of Eid, where we celebrate the triumph of faith and sincerity over greed, I join Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in saying NO to this charade. We will not accept results written in hotel rooms. We will not validate a process that silences the downtrodden.
“We remain committed to a fair, transparent, and just Nigeria, and the fight to rescue our democracy from the hands of political merchants has only just begun.”
Also, some stakeholders in the party, who are loyal to Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity warned of the eminent implosion in the ADC.
The stakeholders called on the party’s National Working Committee (NWC)-led by Sen. David Mark of the danger of not addressing what transpired during the presidential primary election.
They warned that if nothing is done to address the grievances generated by the brazen manipulation in the primaries, they will be left with no option than to work against the party in 2027.
Also speaking with our correspondent, a chieftain of the party, who is close to the party leadership, expressed concern that Amaechi, Hayatu-Deen and their supporters are rejecting the outcome of the presidential primary.
He disclosed that for three nights the party’s leadership begged Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen to have a rethink and toe the part of consensus.
The stakeholder added that Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen couldn’t have defeated Atiku because the former vice president has more reach that the two of them.
He, however, disclosed that Peter Obi was the person they were looking up to as the candidate of the party before he decamped.
