The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is set to review complaints raised by aggrieved aspirants following the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate.
Lawal Batagarawa, a member of the ADC Presidential Primary Committee, disclosed this during an interview with Arise TV on Thursday.
The decision follows the formal rejection of the election results by former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, both of whom boycotted the official declaration of results on Wednesday night.
Atiku won the ticket in a landslide with approximately 1.8 million votes. Meanwhile, Amaechi scored 540,117 votes and described the outcome as “concocted,” claiming many voters were disenfranchised. Hayatu-Deen, who polled 177,120 votes, similarly alleged widespread irregularities during the primary exercise.
Responding to the allegations, Batagarawa noted that friction is expected after a high-stakes contest but assured that the party is treating the grievances with the utmost seriousness.
“You see, in any contest of this nature, there’ll be some dissatisfactions,” Batagarawa said. “And the complaints will be looked into thoroughly to make sure everybody is satisfied that what has taken place has been done according to the rules and regulations within the party and the law of the country.”
He maintained that the leadership is actively addressing the fallout rather than ignoring the runners-up.
“We are not taking what they are saying lightly,” he said. “It will be thoroughly looked into in such a way that they can be satisfied things went correctly.”
Batagarawa also brushed off concerns that the current friction could fracture the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“We have due processes in the party and we are going to go through them,” he said.
During the interview, the committee member also defended Atiku’s post-victory remarks, where the former vice president told President Bola Tinubu to “pack and return to Lagos.”
“He is expected to make statements that will ginger the supporters to go out and start campaigning vigorously,” Batagarawa said.
