By Desire Emmanuel
Former governor of Rivers State and a presidential aspirant under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rotimi Amaechi, on Tuesday, May 26, kicked against the outcome of the primary of the party held on Monday, May 25.
The rejection came as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was leading from the results of about 20 states already announced and is set to be declared the presidential candidate of the party.
Three aspirants, Atiku, Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, were cleared by the Liyel Imole panel for the primary held across 8,809 wards across the country.
However, Amaechi, in a statement on Tuesday night, said he would not accept the outcome of the primary because over 80 percent of party members were not allowed to vote.
He said: “Following reports of widespread voter disenfranchisement in most parts of the country during the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Primaries, 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.
“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.
“There’s no way that about 80 percent 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?
“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 backgrounds, ethnicity, or religion.
“A party that criticices 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 leads to the disenfranchisement of voters who are party members. This is not acceptable.”
