Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has claimed that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar did not put in significant effort to secure the African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential ticket ahead of the 2027 general election.
Lawal made the remarks on Monday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, days after announcing his resignation from the ADC following the controversial primary election that produced Atiku as the party’s presidential candidate.
According to the former SGF, many party members had anticipated a highly competitive primary contest among the leading aspirants. He noted that the activities of former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi stood out during the race, as the former minister appeared determined and confident about his chances.
Lawal said Amaechi and those within his camp strongly believed that he would emerge victorious if the process was allowed to run through a transparent primary election.
“Someone like Rotimi Amaechi was very confident that if we go to primaries he would win. Everybody around him was extremely confident that Amaechi would win,” Lawal said.
He explained that, having closely followed developments within the party, he paid attention to the various indicators that appeared to support Amaechi’s confidence.
“And for me, who has been in this process, I was watching the indices to see where his confidence was coming from. Among the three candidates, he was the one moving around, working hard to see that he got the ticket,” he added.
Lawal, however, contrasted Amaechi’s approach with what he described as Atiku Abubakar’s relatively quiet involvement in the lead up to the primary election.
According to him, several observers within the party were left wondering how Atiku intended to secure victory, given what they perceived as his limited public engagement during the period.
“Then, we have Atiku Abubakar. That time we used to wonder what is he going to do to win the primary because he was practically not doing much. He was not talking, he was not campaigning, he wasn’t going out,” Lawal said.
“We were wondering how was he going to do it? So, we were watching how it was going to be done.”
Lawal’s comments have added another layer to the conversations surrounding the ADC primary election, which has continued to generate reactions within political circles following Atiku’s emergence as the party’s flag bearer for the 2027 presidential race.
