‘I’m not a man of divided loyalty’ – Babachir Lawal on why he didn’t work with Atiku

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has revealed that the African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar approached him to work together. However, Lawal refused to collaborate with Atiku because he was still involved in the administration of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The former SGF emphasized that he could not work with Atiku due to his lack of divided loyalty. He explained that since his previous boss had left office, he is now open to working with Atiku.

Lawal claimed that Atiku wanted to work with him but Lawal declined, stating he could not as he was still engaged in Buhari's administration. Upon Buhari's departure, Lawal expressed his willingness to cooperate with Atiku. He also mentioned his efforts to unite the North behind a single candidate by calling several individuals to discuss the importance of bloc voting.

Lawal suggested that if they all supported the same candidate, they could collectively give them bloc votes. However, he believed that it would take more than just five people to achieve this goal, so he expanded the effort to include five individuals per state.

The conflict between Lawal and Atiku arose after Lawal resigned from the ADC in June 2026. He alleged that the party's 2027 presidential primaries were rigged in favor of Atiku and his associates. Lawal stated that he refused to be part of the "rigging machine," and he had documentary evidence to support his claim of collation discrepancies.

He denounced the possibility of an Atiku presidency, arguing that it would perpetuate a "Muslim-Fulani" power monopoly. The Atiku camp attributed Lawal's criticisms to personal animosity rather than factual evidence and pointed out that the same primary process that Lawal criticized also produced allies for other individuals without his prior objection.