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| Amaechi |
Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has rejected the result of the African Democratic Congress’s (ADC) party’s presidential primary held on Monday, May 25, 2026.
The former Rivers State governor and ex-minister of transportation accused the party of widespread voter disenfranchisement and electoral malpractice during the exercise.
Posting on his X account after the voting, Amaechi called the announced result “concocted,” saying he cannot accept a process that lacked fairness and transparency.
He said the primary showed no meaningful difference between the ADC, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), implying the party’s handling of the contest mirrored what he described as flaws seen in major parties and electoral institutions.
The development also echoed by another presidential aspirant of the party, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, signals a likely legal or political challenge to the ADC’s primary result and raises questions about intra-party processes ahead of the general election.
‘Following reports of widespread voter disenfranchisement in most parts of the country during the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Primaries yesterday, I unequivocally reject the concocted results being announced’, he wrote.
He stated that he had earlier made it clear that he would only accept the outcome of the primary election if the process was free, fair and transparent.
‘I had initially stated that I would only accept the outcome of the primaries if the process was free, fair, and transparent, and I stand by my word’, he said.
Amaechi accused the party leadership of betraying the ideals the ADC claimed to represent in its quest to provide an alternative platform for Nigerians.
‘I will not accept results from a process that does not reflect the values that the ADC had pledged to uphold, to rescue Nigerians from the impunity and gross mismanagement that our country is currently facing in the hands of the ruling party’, he added.
According to him, a large percentage of party members were denied the opportunity to vote during the exercise.
‘There’s no way that about eighty per cent of members of the party were not allowed to vote, and you expect me to accept such results. Then what makes us different from the others’, he queried.
Amaechi said that the ADC was created to amplify the voices of ordinary Nigerians and provide a platform built on fairness and inclusion.
‘The whole idea of the ADC was to give the Nigerian people a platform, to amplify the voices of the downtrodden, and make Nigeria a better place for everyone irrespective of backgrounds, ethnicity, or religion’, he said.
Amaechi further accused the party of engaging in the same electoral malpractices it had previously condemned in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
‘A party that criticises the ruling APC and INEC for vote buying, rigging and writing of results, cannot be engaged in vote buying, writing of results, and other electoral malpractices that lead to the disenfranchisement of voters who are party members. This is not acceptable,’ he stated.
The ADC conducted a nationwide direct primary on Monday to pick its candidate for the 2027 presidential election, with a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; former Managing Director of the defunct FSB International Bank, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, and Amaechi as contenders.
Although the party’s national leadership was yet to formally announce the final collated results from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, figures obtained from some states showed Atiku maintaining a commanding lead across the country, with Amaechi trailing in second place, while Hayatu-Deen occupying third position.
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