Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has defected to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
The politician is expected to support the presidential ticket of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso ahead of the 2027 general election.
Lawal’s defection to the NDC followed a meeting with the party’s National Leader, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, at the former Bayelsa State governor’s residence in Abuja.
POLITICS NIGERIA reported earlier that Lawal held a closed-door meeting with Dickson and other NDC leaders at the senator’s Abuja residence.
The purpose of the meeting was initially not publicly disclosed, but it has now been followed by Lawal’s decision to join the party.
Lawal had earlier resigned from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on June 1 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 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 also alleged that results from the primary were altered to favour Atiku and that some candidates who allegedly won their contests were replaced.
“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.
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.
He added, “When you are faced with choosing between two devils, you pick the lesser one. Even among devils, there are different categories.”
Lawal’s latest move to the NDC marks another shift in the opposition political landscape ahead of the 2027 election. He had previously supported Peter Obi when the former Anambra State governor contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party.
Before his latest political realignment, Lawal had also indicated that he would support an Obi-Kwankwaso ticket if the two politicians returned from what he described as a period of political sabbatical.
The NDC is currently preparing its campaign structure for the 2027 election, with Obi as its presidential candidate and Kwankwaso as his running mate. The party said on September 22 that consultations were at an advanced stage over the constitution and inauguration of its Presidential Campaign Council, with Obi and Kwankwaso given a free hand to nominate most of the council’s principal officers.
The NDC has also recently received judicial backing to participate in the 2027 elections after the Court of Appeal in Abuja set aside a Federal High Court judgment that had affected the party’s registration. Dickson described the appellate decision as an affirmation of the party’s place in Nigeria’s multiparty democratic system.