Former Tansportation minister Rotimi Amaechi has rejected the outcome of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primaries, citing widespread voter disenfranchisement and malpractice.
In a statement posted on his X account following the direct primaries held on Monday, Amaechi described the announced results as fabricated and said he would not accept them.
“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 said.
The former Rivers State governor had previously conditioned his acceptance of the results on a free, fair and transparent process.
“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,” Amaechi added.
He accused the ADC leadership of betraying the party’s stated ideals of offering Nigerians a credible alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“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 said.
Amaechi questioned how the party could claim to be different while allegedly preventing a large majority of its members from voting.
“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.
He further criticised the ADC for resorting to practices it had condemned in the APC and the electoral commission, including vote buying and result writing.
The primaries, conducted nationwide to select the party’s candidate for the 2027 presidential election, featured Amaechi, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen as the main contenders. Partial results from some states had shown Atiku in a strong lead.
The ADC national leadership had yet to announce final collated results as of Tuesday.
