The Deputy National Financial Secretary of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Oladimeji Fabiyi, has alleged that ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, requested N5 billion from former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to support his alleged governorship ambition in Adamawa State.

Fabiyi made the claim while speaking on the internal disagreements within the party on Symfoni TV, alleging that the dispute came from Atiku’s refusal to provide the requested funds.

He said, “When it was time for congresses Atiku equally made so many concessions and that concession almost caused Atiku his leadership in Adamawa because Adamawa ADC lost credible people that would have shored up the strength of the party because Atiku allowed what Babachir Lawal wanted in Adamawa.

“Babachir wanted to be governor of Adamawa state, Atiku had no objection.

“Atiku told him, ‘if you want to be (governor) no problem but follow the democratic process, go through the primaries and all that. Then he (Babachir Lawal) came back for N5 billion from Atiku to support his governorship ambition and Atiku stated he did not have. That’s what lead to all of these things.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it has invalidated 2,103 double registrations from the Ekiti voter register ahead of the June 20, 2026 governorship election in the state.

INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the commission’s second quarterly consultative meeting with leaders of political parties at its headquarters.

Amupitan stated that removal of the duplicate entries was part of INEC’s strict commitment to maintaining  integrity of the electoral process  as the country begins early preparations for the 2027 General Elections.

According to the chairman, the final Register of Voters for the Ekiti governorship poll now stands at 1,059,360.

“This figure reflects the addition of 66,664 new voters registered during the first and second phases of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercises to the 2023 register of 987,647 voters.

“In line with our commitment to maintaining  integrity of the register, 2,103 registrations identified as cases of double registration were invalidated,” Amupitan said.

He assured stakeholders that logistics arrangements, deployment of election technology, training of officials, and security plans were progressing satisfactorily and on schedule for the election.

Amupitan expressed the commission’s commitment to opening of all 2,445 Polling Units across the 16 Local Government Areas of Ekiti at 8:30 a.m. on election day.

On the recently signed Peace Accord by political parties in the state, Amupitan urged party leaders to comply with the agreement.

“I urge political parties to ensure that its principles are fully internalised and observed by party officials, candidates, agents, and supporters throughout the electoral process,” he added.

The chairman maintained that the same operational standards, technological safeguards, and security frameworks being deployed in Ekiti would apply to the by-elections holding the same day across six states where vacancies had occurred.

The affected areas include Enugu North in Enugu state, Nasarawa North in Nasarawa-, Rivers South East in Rivers, and Ondo South Senatorial District in Ondo state;

Others are Dawakin Kudu/Warawa Federal Constituency in Kano state; and the Zuru state Constituency in Kebbi.

“Even as we finalise preparations for Ekiti, our attention is equally focused on the Osun  governorship election scheduled for Saturday, August 15.

“The timetable and schedule of activities for the election are already being implemented.

“I urge all political parties to comply strictly with the prescribed timelines and regulatory requirements.

The lessons learned from Ekiti will further strengthen our preparations and enhance the efficiency of our operations in Osun ,” he said.

The Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, has removed the names of Ahmed Yayari and Daniel Woyengikuro from its portal as Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Treasurer and National Financial Secretary, respectively.

A check by DAILY POST shows that both names have also been replaced with Odeyemi Mackson Oladiran and Eyim Donatus Henry as the new executives.

Yayari and Woyengikuro who are part of the Makinde-backed Turaki faction while Odeyemi and Eyim are members of the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s faction, which is also the recognised faction of the PDP.

INEC had earlier recognised Wike’s faction by putting the names of Abdulrahman Mohammed as the National Chairman and Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary, but had left the names of Yayari and Woyengikuro as part of the executives.

With the recent update on its portal, all executives of the PDP on INEC’s portal are now aligned with FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.