Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has arrived at the residence of former Bayelsa State Governor and National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, for a closed-door meeting.
Lawal’s visit comes weeks after his resignation from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) following the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate.
The former SGF is currently meeting with Dickson and other NDC leaders.
The purpose of the meeting has not been officially disclosed, but the development has fuelled speculation about Lawal’s possible movement into the NDC.
Lawal, who served as SGF under former President Muhammadu Buhari, had been involved in opposition efforts ahead of the 2027 election. He resigned from the ADC in June, shortly after Atiku emerged as the party’s presidential candidate.
In his resignation statement, Lawal accused the ADC presidential primary of being manipulated in favour of Atiku.
He alleged that the results had been “written or rewritten” to favour the former vice president and said he did not want to remain part of what he described as a “rigging machine.”
“I am exiting the ADC because its just concluded primaries were at all levels massively rigged in favour of Abubakar Atiku,” Lawal said at the time.
He further alleged that in some places where voting took place, candidates who emerged as winners were allegedly replaced by individuals loyal to Atiku.
“Results were just written or rewritten to favour him 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,” he alleged.
The allegations were rejected by Atiku’s camp, which maintained that the former vice president’s emergence reflected the outcome of the party’s primary.
Atiku was declared the winner of the ADC presidential primary after polling 1,846,370 votes, ahead of former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.
Lawal also said his opposition to Atiku’s candidacy was informed by his belief that supporting the former vice president would make President Bola Tinubu’s return to office easier.
“For me, working for Atiku means giving Tinubu an automatic ticket to a second term, which gives me nightmares,” Lawal said in his resignation statement.
He subsequently stated that, if Nigerians were faced with a choice between Tinubu and Atiku, he would prefer Tinubu despite his criticisms of the administration.
“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,” Lawal said during an interview.
He added, “When you are faced with choosing between two devils, you pick the lesser one. Even among devils, there are different categories.”