Before the declaration of the presidential primary results, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) slipped into a post-primary crisis yesterday. Two presidential aspirants – former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen – outrightly rejected the outcome, which they described as fraudulent.
The third aspirant, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, won with a clear majority in the poll held across electoral wards nationwide. Dismissing the result as a sham, Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State, alleged widespread voter disenfranchisement and other irregularities.
Ahead of the declaration of the results by the Presidential Election Committee, chaired by Chief Ikechi Emenike, Amaechi said the figures could not stand.
Hayatu-Deen, who opted out of the collation and announcement of the results, also described the process as flawed, alleging monumental rigging.
In a post on his X handle, Amaechi said the process failed the test of transparency and fairness, which the party had promised to uphold. He said he could only accept the outcome of a primary that was free, fair, and transparent.
Amaechi stated: “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.
“I had initially stated that I would 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.”
The former governor alleged that many party members were denied the opportunity to vote, insisting that such practices contradicted the ideals upon which the party was founded.
He added: “There’s no way that about eighty per cent 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 background, ethnicity or religion.”
Amaechi said it was ironic that the ADC allegedly engaged in the same electoral malpractices it had accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of perpetrating in previous elections.
