Chairman of ADC electoral committee slams Babachir Lawal
Dr. Nicholas Msheliza, Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Primary Electoral Committee in Adamawa State, has accused Engineer Babachir David Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, of being the one who actually tried to rig the just concluded primary election. He said this while reacting to the allegation of Lawal that […]
Babachir Lawal.
Dr. Nicholas Msheliza, Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Primary Electoral Committee in Adamawa State, has accused Engineer Babachir David Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, of being the one who actually tried to rig the just concluded primary election.
He said this while reacting to the allegation of Lawal that the ADC Presidential Primary was rigged in favour of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
Lawal, who made the allegation on Monday, resigned from the ADC and vowed to work against the emergence of Atiku as President.
But responding on Wednesday, Msheliza said it was Lawal who actually plotted to manipulate the outcome of the primaries.
“Since the resignation and exit of Engr. Babachir Lawal from the African Democratic Congress (ADC), I have watched with amusement how hard he has been trying to justify his actions with phantom excuses of unfair presidential primaries and rigging in favour of Atiku Abubakar.”
“While I had initially chosen to be a spectator by the sidelines, I have now found it necessary to break my silence and offer some response in order to prevent gullible Nigerians from swallowing the venom of hatred and pack of lies being peddled by Babachir Lawal.
“My right to reply is based on a publication in Politics Nigeria of the 3rd of June 2026 titled “I’ve Eliminated APC and ADC…) and credited to Babachir Lawal wherein he made mention of a Returning Officer who manipulated a result from a particular local government in favour of Atiku Abubakar to the detriment of Alhaji Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, his own candidate. He further stated that Hayatu-Deen had 20,000 votes as against Atiku’s 1,000 but that it was reversed in Abuja to favour Atiku instead. He added that the Returning Officer defended the alteration of the results.
“I, Dr Nicholas Msheliza happen to be the chairman of the committee sent to Adamawa State for the conduct of the ADC primaries and also the Returning Officer so mentioned by Babachir Lawal.
“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 on what has turned out be a scam he had sold to his principal.
“It is obvious that Babachir Lawal has little or no knowledge of the role of a Returning Officer. Simply put, a Returning Officer does not participate in the election proper or writing of results. The RO only receives already compiled results for collation. I was therefore in no position to reverse results that had already been compiled and submitted for collation.
“For the sake of clarity, the local government Babachir Lawal mentioned in his interview is Hong Local Government Area, the very local government he hails from.
“I wish to state for the records that Atiku Abubakar won that local government with 11,991 while Hayatu-Deen and Rotimi Amaechi polled 2,493 and 377 votes, respectively.
“I was extremely happy when Babachir Lawal mentioned that he has his results sheets to show as evidence of rigging. I challeng him to provide them for public scrutiny against the results sheets from the Adamawa State Electoral Committee.
“I wish to put Babachir Lawal on notice that in my next statement on this issue, I would be glad to present a plethora of unassailable evidence.
“If Babachir Lawal has personal scores to settle with Atiku Abubakar, I advise him to chose another means but not to discredit a process in which he was a chief planner but got angry and frustrated because he was stopped in his tracks. Instead of Babachir Lawal to hide his face in shame, he is now ranting like a rabid dog.”