By Ghazali Ibrahim
Former Minister of Transportation and ex-Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has rejected the outcome of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primaries, describing the results as “concocted” and alleging widespread voter disenfranchisement during the exercise.
In a statement released after the primaries, Amaechi said he would not accept the results because the process failed to meet the standards of fairness, transparency, and credibility that he had expected from the party.
According to him, he had made it clear before the election that he would only accept the outcome if the exercise was conducted in a free, fair, and transparent manner.
Amaechi claimed that a significant number of party members were prevented from participating in the voting process, alleging that nearly 80 per cent of ADC members across the country were not allowed to vote.
“There’s no way that about eighty percent of members of the party were not allowed to vote, and you expect me to accept such results,” he said.
The former governor argued that the ADC was established to provide Nigerians with a credible alternative capable of addressing what he described as the “impunity and gross mismanagement” of the current administration.
He further accused the party of engaging in the same practices it had previously condemned in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), including vote-buying, result manipulation, and other electoral irregularities.
“A party that criticizes 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,” Amaechi stated.
He maintained that such actions were unacceptable and inconsistent with the democratic principles the ADC claims to represent.
The ADC has yet to officially respond to the allegations raised by the former minister.
