The internal crisis rocking the African Democratic Congress (ADC) intensified on Thursday as the party’s Adamawa State Electoral Committee Chairman, Dr. Nicholas Msheliza, accused former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, of attempting to manipulate the outcome of the party’s presidential primary in the state.
Msheliza, who also served as the Returning Officer for the Adamawa presidential primary, alleged that Lawal personally directed him to alter election results in Hong Local Government Area to favour his preferred candidate, businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, over former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The allegations come just days after Lawal publicly claimed that Atiku manipulated the ADC presidential primary process to secure the party’s ticket ahead of the 2027 general election.
In a strongly-worded statement, Msheliza rejected Lawal’s claims and described them as false and misleading.
“When Babachir Lawal got wind of the results, he called and requested that I reverse the results to favour his candidate. I refused to carry out his directive,” Msheliza stated.
According to him, the official results from Hong Local Government Area showed Atiku polling 11,991 votes, while Hayatu-Deen secured 2,493 votes and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, received 377 votes.
He maintained that the figures directly contradicted Lawal’s public assertion that Hayatu-Deen had originally won the area by a landslide before the results were allegedly altered.
Lawal, in an interview published earlier this week, had alleged that a returning officer manipulated results from one local government area, converting what he claimed was a 20,000-vote lead for Hayatu-Deen into a victory for Atiku. The allegation formed part of the reasons he cited for resigning from the ADC on June 2, barely a week after the party’s May 25 presidential primary.
Responding to the claims, Msheliza identified himself as the returning officer referenced by Lawal and accused the former SGF of orchestrating a parallel electoral process after failing to secure changes to the official results.
He alleged that within an hour of rejecting Lawal’s request, the former SGF dissolved the duly constituted Hong Local Government electoral committee from Abuja and replaced it with another committee without consultation with the state electoral leadership.
According to Msheliza, the newly constituted committee subsequently conducted what he described as an illegal exercise in Hong, Madagali, Michika and Mubi North local government areas.
“This was the Babachir Lawal committee that went on to illegally carry out his rigging assignment in Hong, Madagali, Michika and Mubi North Local Government Areas without any ward electoral materials given to them,” he said.
He further claimed that the original results from Hong had already been recorded before the parallel committee arrived with what he described as “concocted results.”
Msheliza challenged Lawal to publicly release the result sheets he claimed to possess, insisting that the official results from the Adamawa State Electoral Committee would withstand any scrutiny.
The electoral chairman also questioned Lawal’s credibility, expressing disappointment that someone who had occupied high public office and often identified as a pastor would make what he described as misleading claims.
“With the esteemed office he occupied in the party and a pastor which he sometimes claims to be, I never thought in my wildest imagination that Babachir Lawal could descend so low to the level of distorting facts in order to defend his inability and lack of capacity to deliver,” he said.
Msheliza further threatened to release documentary evidence and additional details to support his allegations, promising what he described as “a plethora of unassailable evidence” regarding alleged interference in the Adamawa primary process.
The latest exchange marks a significant escalation in the growing fallout from Lawal’s departure from the ADC.
Earlier, Atiku’s camp dismissed Lawal’s allegations as baseless, while presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga argued that the former SGF’s criticisms had caused greater political damage to Atiku than attacks from the presidency.
Atiku’s supporters have also accused Lawal of selective outrage, noting that he did not challenge the emergence of his cousin, Omar Suleiman, as the ADC governorship candidate in Adamawa through the same primary process he now describes as fraudulent.
Meanwhile, Hayatu-Deen has ruled out contesting Atiku’s emergence as the ADC presidential candidate, saying he remains committed to party unity and the broader goal of building a credible opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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