The former minister said he would not accept any outcome produced through what he described as a flawed and manipulated process.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – Former Minister of Transportation and presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) , Rotimi Amaechi, has rejected the outcome of the party’s presidential primary election, alleging widespread irregularities, voter disenfranchisement and manipulation of results.
Amaechi, in a statement issued on Tuesday after the announcement of results from several states, described the exercise as fraudulent and inconsistent with the democratic ideals the ADC claimed to represent.
The former Rivers State governor accused party officials of orchestrating vote buying and altering results during the primary, insisting that the process lacked transparency and credibility.
“Following reports of widespread voter disenfranchisement in most parts of the country during the African Democratic Congress presidential primaries yesterday, I unequivocally reject the concocted results being announced,” he stated.
He argued that a political party positioning itself as an alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could not afford to engage in the same electoral practices it routinely condemns.
“A party that criticises the ruling APC and INEC for vote buying, rigging and writing of results cannot itself engage in vote buying, writing of results and other electoral malpractices that lead to the disenfranchisement of party members,” Amaechi said.
According to him, the integrity of the primary election had been compromised to the extent that a large percentage of party members were allegedly prevented from participating in the voting process.
“There’s no way that about 80 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 maintained that the ADC was founded to provide Nigerians with a credible political alternative capable of addressing impunity, poor governance and economic hardship in the country.
“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 background, ethnicity or religion,” he added.
The former minister said he would not accept any outcome produced through what he described as a flawed and manipulated process.
“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.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has continued to dominate results released from the party’s presidential primary election across the country.
As of Tuesday evening, Atiku had reportedly secured victories in Gombe, Abia, Ebonyi, Sokoto and Zamfara states, placing him in a commanding lead in the contest.