ADC Presidential Primary:: Adamawa electoral committee Chair counters Babachir’s rigging allegations

The chairman of the ADC Adamawa State Presidential Primary Electoral Committee, Dr. Nicholas Msheliza, has challenged allegations of rigging made by former SGF Babachir Lawal, accusing him instead of attempting to influence the primary results.

Mr Msheliza made the allegations in a statement issued in response to recent claims by Lawal that the ADC presidential primary was rigged in favour of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Mr Lawal had reportedly alleged in an interview published by Politics Nigeria on June 3, 2026, that results from a local government area in Adamawa State were altered to favour Atiku over another aspirant, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen. According to him, Hayatu-Deen had secured 20,000 votes against Atiku’s 1,000 votes before the figures were allegedly reversed during collation in Abuja.

Reacting to the allegations, Msheliza, who said he served as chairman of the committee that conducted the presidential primary in Adamawa and also acted as Returning Officer, dismissed the claims as false and accused Lawal of attempting to rewrite the events surrounding the exercise.

The ADC official said a Returning Officer does not participate directly in the conduct of elections or the compilation of results, but merely receives and collates results submitted from various centres.

“It is therefore impossible for me to have reversed results that had already been compiled and submitted for collation,” he stated.

Mr Msheliza identified the local government in question as Hong Local Government Area, Lawal’s home local government, and insisted that the results declared from the area reflected the actual votes cast.

According to him, Atiku won the local government with 11,991 votes, while Hayatu-Deen and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, secured 2,493 and 377 votes respectively.

He alleged that after learning of the results, Lawal contacted him and requested that the figures be altered in favour of Hayatu-Deen, a request he said he rejected.

“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 criminal directive,” Msheliza alleged.

He further claimed that shortly after the alleged conversation, Lawal unilaterally dissolved and reconstituted a separate electoral committee for Hong Local Government Area from Abuja without consulting the state electoral committee.

According to him, the newly constituted committee subsequently conducted what he described as an illegal exercise in Hong, Madagali, Michika and Mubi North local government areas without being issued official ward electoral materials.

Mr Msheliza maintained that the original results from Hong had already been entered before the parallel committee allegedly submitted what he described as “concocted” results.

He challenged Lawal to publicly release the result sheets he claimed to possess and compare them with the official documents held by the Adamawa State Electoral Committee.

The electoral committee chairman also indicated that he was prepared to release additional evidence to support his allegations.

“I would be glad to present a plethora of unassailable evidence, including unethical interferences, to show the rigging processes the self-styled pastor unleashed on Adamawa State and the scam scheme he presided over during the presidential primaries,” he said.

Mr Msheliza argued that Lawal’s criticisms of the primary process stemmed from frustration over his inability to influence the outcome in favour of his preferred candidate.

He urged the former SGF to pursue any grievances he may have with Atiku through other channels rather than discrediting a process in which he allegedly played a major role.

The latest exchange adds to the growing tensions within the ADC following the party’s presidential primary, with rival camps continuing to trade accusations over the conduct and outcome of the exercise.