The camp of the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has launched a scathing attack on former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, over his criticism of the party’s presidential primary, accusing him of making unsubstantiated allegations and attempting to discredit a democratic process he could not influence.
Lawal, announcing his resignation from the party on Monday, slammed Atiku for allegedly influencing the outcome of the party’s primaries held across the country.
However, in a statement issued on behalf of the former Vice President by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the Atiku camp rejected claims that the ADC presidential primary was manipulated, insisting that the exercise reflected the will of party members across the country.
Lawal had questioned the credibility of the exercise and alleged that the process was compromised. In response, the Atiku camp accused Lawal of attempting to malign both the party and its members without evidence.
“Having chosen to malign a democratic process, insult thousands of ADC members nationwide, and make grave allegations without presenting a shred of evidence, it has become necessary to set the record straight,” the statement said.
Shaibu argued that Lawal had failed to provide any proof to support his allegations of electoral manipulation.
“The truth is straightforward. The ADC presidential primaries were conducted across thousands of wards and produced a clear and decisive outcome. What Mr Lawal has offered Nigerians is not evidence. He has produced no documents, no verifiable facts, no credible witnesses, and no proof whatsoever to support his sensational allegations.”
The Atiku camp also accused the former SGF of political inconsistency, pointing to what it described as his acceptance of outcomes from the same primary process in other contests.
“Mr Lawal has also failed to explain how the very same primary process he now dismisses as fraudulent somehow produced a result he appears perfectly willing to accept in Adamawa State, where his cousin, Omar Suleiman, emerged as the ADC governorship candidate.”
“Nigerians are entitled to ask whether the process was only credible when it favoured his family and only rigged when it produced a presidential candidate he did not support.”
The statement further took aim at Lawal’s public image as a critic of corruption and electoral malpractice, reviving controversies that trailed his tenure as Secretary to the Government of the Federation during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Lawal was removed from office in 2017 following allegations linked to contracts awarded through the Presidential Initiative on the North-East, a controversy that became widely known as the “grass-cutting scandal.” He has consistently denied wrongdoing.
Atiku’s camp further argued that Lawal’s criticisms were driven more by dissatisfaction with the outcome of the primary than by genuine concerns about electoral integrity.
“What appears to have truly 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 suddenly condemn it as rigged when it does not.”
The statement also faulted what it described as Lawal’s resort to ethnic and religious sentiments in his criticisms of the primary.
“Having failed to persuade ADC members to embrace his preferred candidate, he now seeks refuge in the divisive politics of identity,” Shaibu said.
Such rhetoric, he argued, does little to address the country’s pressing challenges.
“It creates no jobs, lowers no food prices, secures no communities, and offers no pathway out of the national crisis.”
Defending Atiku’s political credentials, Shaibu maintained that the 2027 election would be decided by Nigerians based on issues of governance, economic recovery and national security rather than internal party disputes.
“The Nigerian people know Atiku Abubakar. They know his record in public service. They know his achievements in business. They know his commitment to national unity and economic reform,” he stressed.
While insisting that Atiku remained focused on presenting solutions to Nigeria’s challenges, the statement concluded that no amount of post-primary controversy would alter the outcome of the ADC presidential contest.
“The 2027 election will not be decided by tantrums, ethnic dog whistles, recycled grievances, or revisionist history. It will be decided by the Nigerian people. And no amount of post-primary bitterness can alter that reality.”
