By Teddy Nwanunobi
The duo of former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen refused to take part in the collation and announcement of the results of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primary election yesterday over alleged irregularities.
Former Rivers State Governor, Amaechi, who described the results announced as “concocted” and inconsistent with democratic principles, made his position known in a statement posted on his X platform on Wednesday, following the conclusion of the ADC presidential primary across the country.
He former Rivers State governor alleged that the exercise was marred by widespread voter disenfranchisement, claiming that a large percentage of party members were denied the opportunity to participate in the process.
“I unequivocally reject the concocted results being announced. I had initially stated that I will only accept the outcome of the primaries if the process was free, fair, and transparent, and I stand by my word,” he said.
In his reaction, Hayatu-Deen, in a statement, said reports of widespread vote rigging from different parts of the country had raised serious doubts about the credibility of the process.
“I will not be attending the announcement of the ADC Presidential Election Results today. I am concerned by reports from across the country of widespread vote rigging, some of which I myself observed, and will therefore be taking advice on my next steps,” he stated.
Daily NewsCraft reports that both Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen are contesting for the ADC presidential sole ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Meanwhile, ADC has cleared the air on the rigging allegation of one of Hayatu-Deen, saying that they do not have any evidence to support or deny the allegation.
“We don’t have any evidence to be able to support his position or to deny his position because we’ve not collated the results. We’ve not noticed any pattern in the result, and we’ve not seen enough to be able to establish a pattern.
“Eleven states’ results have been received so far. We are still awaiting other results. Any moment from now we are going to start the collation,” the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said during an interview on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television.
Although Atiku seemed to be leading, the final result was yet to be announced as at the time of filing this report.