Atiku fumes as ex-SGF Babachir Lawal accuses him of rigging ADC primaries

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has resigned from the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Lawal in a post on his Facebook page on Monday, alleged that the ADC’s recently concluded primaries were rigged in favour of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who picked the part’s presidential ticket.

The post reads: “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,” the postreads in part.

“Results were just written or rewritten to favour him and his coven. Even where they allowed some semblance of (an) election to hold, the winners were simply replaced with members of his syndicate. In the real sense, it was a disgraceful charade.

“The man and his cabal are just irredentist Fulani and religious hegemonists. For me, working for Kachalla Atiku means giving Tinubu an automatic ticket to a second term, which gives me nightmares,” he said.

“I believe Tinubu might, comparatively speaking, end up a better Nigerian president than Kachalla Atiku could ever be (as bad as Tinubu currently is and possibly could ever be). The choice in 2027, it seems, will be a Morton’s fork.”

But reacting, Atiku Abubakar in a statement by his media office described the allegations by the former SGF as needless, senseless attack and “fabrication of lies.”

The media office states: “The attention of the Atiku Media Office has been drawn to the needless and senseless attack on the person and character of the former Vice President of Nigeria and the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the 2027 election, Atiku Abubakar.

Ordinarily, the verbal vituperation and the utter rubbish churned out by Babachir Lawal would have been better ignored as the ranting of a man high on substance, but for the overriding need to put the records straight.

While former SGF Babachir Lawal has the right to resign from ADC and is free to do so because political parties are voluntary associations of people, he is not entitled to cast aspersions on Atiku based entirely on fabricated and brazen lies.

According to the statement, accusing Atiku of religious bigotry or nepotism is one of the laziest and most ridiculous lies anyone can spread against the former Vice President.

The statement explained that Atiku Abubakar is one of the most liberal politicians in Nigeria and his record in this regard is there for anyone to verify.

“As far as we are concerned, Babachir was perfectly describing his own character rather than Atiku’s. The former SGF seeks power on the altar of dividing the people based on primordial sentiments. All his altercations with people are caused by his selfishness. He opportunistically panders to sentiments to achieve his ambition. None of his struggles are influenced by the larger interests of his people or Nigeria,” the statement added.

The statement noted further that a man who is a notorious conflict entrepreneur like Babachir Lawal is not qualified to speak about what is good for Nigeria.”

“When Babachir said he resigned from ADC because of the so-called rigging or manipulations during the primaries, he didn’t offer any proof of his allegations.

“And instead of offering evidence of his allegations, he went further to drag Atiku’s family into the issue which was irrelevant to the issue of primaries. It’s evident from the load of garbage published by the former SGF that he holds personal animosity against Atiku Abubakar.”

The statement advised Lawal to search his conscience and stop feeding the cauldron of division and bigotry among Nigerians for his own selfish interests.

“There is no such thing as a Muslim and Christian party in Nigeria. When the outcome of a competition doesn’t favour you, you should petition the party to show proof of manipulations or rigging. It’s however most irresponsible for a former SGF to turn himself into an agent of division.”