By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has defected to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
With this development, Lawal is envisaged to support the presidential ticket of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso ahead of the 2027 general election.
Lawal’s defection to the NDC was sequel to a meeting with the party’s National Leader, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, at the former Bayelsa State governor’s residence in Abuja.
The former SGF, it was gathered, held a closed-door meeting with Dickson and other NDC leaders at the Senator’s Abuja residence.
Lawal, it will be recalled, had resigned from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on June 1 this year, following the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate.
The former SGF had strongly opposed Atiku’s emergence and accused the ADC presidential primary committee of being manipulated in favour of the former vice president.
“I am exiting the ADC because its just concluded primaries were at all levels massively rigged in favour of Abubakar Atiku,” Lawal said in his resignation statement.
He added, “Results were just written or rewritten to favour him (Atiku) and his coven. Even where they allowed some semblance of election to hold, the winners were simply replaced with members of his syndicate. In the real sense, it was a disgraceful charade”.
The Atiku’s camp rejected the allegations and maintained that his emergence reflected the outcome of the ADC presidential primary.
Atiku was declared the winner after polling 1,846,370 votes, ahead of former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.
Lawal had also argued that backing Atiku would improve President Bola Tinubu’s chances of securing a second term, which was one of the reasons he gave for leaving the ADC.
“For me, working for Atiku means giving Tinubu an automatic ticket to a second term, which gives me nightmares,” Lawal said.
Despite his criticism of the Tinubu administration, Lawal subsequently stated that he would choose Tinubu if the only options before Nigerians were the incumbent president and Atiku.
“I have said it before: if the choice must be between Atiku and Tinubu, then despite the shortcomings of Tinubu’s administration, he would still be a far better president compared to what Atiku would bring Nigeria into,” he said in an interview.
Lawal’s latest move to the NDC marks another shift in the opposition political landscape ahead of the 2027 election.
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