*Backing Atiku means Tinubu’s re-election, Babachir Lawal quits ADC

*You only cry rigging when you lose, Atiku camp slams Babachir

By Luminous Jannamike

ABUJA — Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, has resigned from African Democratic Congress, ADC, declaring that supporting the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, would amount to handing President Bola Tinubu a second term in office.

But Atiku in a swift reaction, accused the former SGF of rejecting the outcome of the presidential primaries because his preferred candidate lost.

However, Lawal said he was leaving the opposition party after accusing its leadership of manipulating the recently concluded primary in favour of Atiku, a development, he said, had convinced him that the ADC could no longer provide the leadership alternative he sought, ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

In a statement yesterday, the former ADC North-East zonal chairman accused party leaders of condoning alleged irregularities during the primaries and argued that Atiku’s emergence had effectively strengthened Tinubu’s path to re-election.

“For me, supporting Abubakar Atiku would amount to handing President Bola Tinubu an automatic path to a second term. 

‘’Ironically, I have come to fear that Tinubu may ultimately prove a better president than Atiku could ever be, despite my profound dissatisfaction with the current administration,” he said.

Lawal, a prominent northern political figure and former ally of Tinubu who later left the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and aligned himself with opposition efforts ahead of the 2023 and 2027 elections, said developments within the ADC had convinced him that the party was heading in the wrong direction.

He alleged that ADC’s primaries were manipulated to favour Atiku and members of his political camp, describing the exercise as fundamentally flawed.

“I am exiting the ADC because its just concluded primaries were at all levels massively rigged in favour of Kachalla Abubakar Atiku. 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,” he said.

According to Lawal, even in places where voting took place, outcomes were altered to favour preferred candidates.

“Results were just written or rewritten to favour him and his coven. 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 stated.

He said his decision to leave the party was also driven by a desire to avoid being associated with what he described as a broader political project, ahead of the 2027 general election.

“I am doing so because I do not intend to be part of Kachalla Atiku’s rigging machine in the 2027 general elections and I cannot avoid doing so if I remain in the party,” he said.

He also accused Atiku and his associates of pursuing what he characterised as ethnic and religious domination, saying his convictions would not allow him to support such a cause.

The former SGF said:  “I did not join ADC to make Nigeria progressively worse, so my beliefs and conscience won’t allow me partner with the ‘evil’ that Atiku and his people represent.’’

He also questioned Atiku’s suitability for the presidency and expressed disappointment that many northern political actors had rallied behind the former vice-president, despite the region’s economic and security challenges.

He explained:  “I would have thought that when Northerners insisted on a northern president, they would be thinking of one that would stop the downward spiral into poverty and insecurity, not an ineptocrat like Kachalla Atiku.

“Perhaps that is why I find the situation so disappointing. At a time the region faces enormous challenges, political calculations appear to have triumphed over the search for effective leadership.”

Lawal also predicted that Atiku’s political project would eventually struggle against the machinery of the ruling party in the 2027 contest.

“My expectation is that Atiku and those who engineered his emergence will eventually encounter a political machine far more ruthless and sophisticated than their own. Should that happen, the project will collapse under the weight of its contradictions,” Lawal said.

The former SGF said he would spend the coming weeks consulting with like-minded associates as he considered his next political steps from outside the ADC.

“As I reconsider my political future and consult with like-minded colleagues about how best to prevent what I view as a deeply flawed candidacy from reaching the Presidency, I intend to retreat for a while to my village farm. From there, I will watch events unfold,” he said.

You only cry rigging when you lose, Atiku camp hits Babachir

Meanwhile, Atiku’s camp in a statement signed by Phrank Shaibu, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, accused Lawal of making serious allegations against the primary without providing evidence.

“What appears to have 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 condemn it when it does not,” Shaibu said.

He further accused Lawal of selectively accepting the outcome of ADC primaries, pointing to the emergence of Omar Suleiman, described as his cousin, as the party’s governorship candidate in Adamawa State.

Shaibu said: “Nigerians are entitled to ask whether the process was credible when it favoured his family and only became rigged when it produced a presidential candidate he did not support.

“If the primaries were truly illegitimate, intellectual honesty would require him to reject every outcome arising from that exercise. Instead, he has chosen selective outrage, embracing results that suit his interests while condemning those that do not.”

The Atiku’s camp maintained that the ADC presidential primary was conducted across thousands of wards nationwide and produced a clear outcome, insisting that Lawal had failed to provide evidence to support his allegations of manipulation.

“Mr. Lawal has presented no documents, no verifiable facts, no credible witnesses and no evidence whatsoever to support his allegations of manipulation,” Shaibu said.

He also accused the former SGF of taking contradictory positions on electoral integrity, saying “while condemning what he calls electoral manipulation, he simultaneously expresses admiration for what he describes as President Tinubu’s ‘superior rigging machine.’ 

‘’Nigerians are, therefore, entitled to ask a simple question: If rigging is unacceptable, why does he appear fascinated by it when he imagines it may favour his preferred political outcome?”

He also accused Lawal of resorting to ethnic and religious narratives after failing to secure support for his preferred candidate during the primary process.

“Having failed to persuade ADC members to embrace his preferred candidate, he now seeks refuge in ethnic and religious narratives. Such rhetoric offers no solutions to inflation, insecurity, unemployment or the rising cost of living confronting ordinary Nigerians,” Shaibu said. 

Beyond the dispute over the primary, the Atiku’s camp faulted Lawal’s criticism of the former vice president’s family, describing it as unrelated to the issues confronting many Nigerians.

“What concerns ordinary citizens today is not how many children a politician has, but how many children are going to bed hungry. Parents are struggling to pay school fees. Businesses are collapsing. Entire communities are living under the shadow of insecurity,” he said. 

Shaibu further defended Atiku’s political standing, saying the former vice president remained one of the country’s few politicians with broad national appeal.

He also referenced the controversy that preceded Lawal’s removal from office as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, arguing that it was ironic for him to present himself as an authority on accountability and electoral integrity.

Shaibu said:  “It is, therefore, remarkable that a public official whose tenure was dogged by questions of conflict of interest and abuse of office now seeks to lecture Nigerians on electoral integrity.

“The 2027 election will ultimately be decided by the Nigerian people, not by post-primary bitterness, personal attacks or revisionist narratives. No amount of outrage can alter that reality.”

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