ADC presidential primary: ‘You’re jumping the gun’ – David Mark’s aide, Igbawua to Amaechi

Chille Igbawua, a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) electoral panel and adviser to ADC National Chairman David Mark, urged aggrieved aspirants—including former Transportation Minister Chibuike Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu‑Deen—to use the party’s presidential primary appeal panel.

Igbawua reminded the politicians that the ADC has internal grievance‑resolution mechanisms in place, rather than publicly contesting primary results.

Speaking on Arise News on Tuesday, he said, “Anybody who is aggrieved by the primary process should go to the appeal and state their reasons. Saying you don’t agree with the process is jumping the gun.”

Amid the controversy, Amaechi rejected the primary results, alleging widespread voter disenfranchisement and electoral malpractice. He claimed that roughly 80 percent of party members nationwide were prevented from voting during the exercise.

Hayatu‑Deen also announced that he would not attend the party’s presidential election results announcement, citing concerns over alleged irregularities.

“The various electoral panels have appeal panels on the ground. The first appeal comes from screening. If you feel you were screened out unfairly, you go to an appeal panel, and they will review your case. If you are right, you’ll be cleared,” Igbawua explained.

“These are the internal mechanisms put in place for grievance resolution. Now, these same panels are on the ground for the primaries proper. Anybody aggrieved by the primary process should go to the appeal and state their reasons,” he added.

“It would be jumping the gun to say you do not agree, and then perhaps I expect that they will still go to the appeal panel,” Igbawua said. “If you think things were not done correctly before the process started, it is known that these are human processes and something is bound to go wrong. That is why the appeal panels were put in place, and they are available for everybody.”

He noted that only two candidates were initially withheld clearance, but all were later cleared by the appeal panel and went on to contest the governorship primaries in their respective states.