Nigeria: ADC returning officer accuses Babachir Lawal of rigging Adamawa primary for Hayatu-Deen
By Zuleihat Owuiye, Nigeria
The chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, electoral committee for Adamawa State, Dr Nicholas Msheliza, has accused former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, of personally directing the rigging of the party’s presidential primary in the state.
Msheliza, who also served as Returning Officer for the Adamawa primaries, made the allegation on Tuesday, June 3, 2026, in a strongly-worded statement. He threatened to release documentary evidence to back his claim.
The exchange is the latest fallout from Lawal’s resignation from the ADC on Monday, June 2, barely a week after the party’s presidential primary on May 25 produced former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its candidate for the 2027 election.
Lawal had alleged in an interview published by _Politics Nigeria_ on Tuesday, titled “I’ve Eliminated APC and ADC…”, that a Returning Officer manipulated results from a local government to flip 20,000 votes for businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen into a win for Atiku. He cited the incident as part of his justification for quitting the ADC.
Msheliza identified himself as the officer Lawal referenced. He said Lawal called him after results were compiled and ordered him to reverse the outcome in Hong Local Government Area, Lawal’s hometown, to favour Hayatu-Deen over Atiku.
“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 the Returning Officer, Atiku won Hong LGA with 11,991 votes, Hayatu-Deen polled 2,493, and former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi got 377 votes. He said these figures were the opposite of what Lawal publicly claimed.
Msheliza said that within an hour of his refusal, Lawal dissolved the duly constituted electoral committee for Hong LGA from his Abuja office and assembled a parallel committee without consulting him as state electoral chairman.
“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 added that the original results from Hong had already been entered before Lawal’s parallel committee arrived with what he called “concocted results”.
Msheliza challenged Lawal to release the result sheets he had boasted about possessing, saying he would welcome a side-by-side public comparison with the official Adamawa State electoral committee’s results.
He also questioned Lawal’s credibility, noting that the former SGF occasionally presents himself as a man of faith. “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,” Msheliza said.
He warned that a more detailed statement was forthcoming, promising “a plethora of unassailable evidence, including unethical interferences to show the rigging processes the self-styled Pastor unleashed on Adamawa State.”
Atiku’s camp had earlier dismissed Lawal’s allegations as unsubstantiated. Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said Lawal had inflicted more damage on Atiku than any criticism from the presidency could have achieved.
Atiku’s camp also accused Lawal of inconsistency, pointing out that he had not questioned the emergence of his cousin, Omar Suleiman, as the ADC governorship candidate in Adamawa through the same primary process he now condemned as fraudulent.
Hayatu-Deen has since ruled out challenging Atiku’s emergence, saying he prefers party unity and the broader objective of building a credible opposition ahead of 2027.
