Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has described the 2017 scandal that led to his removal from office as a political setup. He also renewed his criticism of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Atiku's Response
In what appears to be a retaliation, Atiku accused the former SGF of promoting ethnic prejudice, peddling conspiracy theories, and deepening divisions at a time when Nigeria requires unity to confront its mounting challenges.
In a detailed Facebook post responding to the backlash over his resignation from the ADC, Lawal defended the controversial contract at the centre of the scandal. He reiterated his position that supporting Atiku would hand President Bola Tinubu an easy path to a second term.
Lawal's Allegations
The latest statement builds on his earlier explanation for exiting the ADC. Lawal alleged that the controversy was orchestrated by political actors uncomfortable with his close relationship with former President Muhammadu Buhari, which he said dated back to 1971, and his background as a Christian from the Kilba ethnic group.
He claimed that some politicians feared Buhari was grooming him for higher office and therefore engineered his removal from the influential SGF position. According to Lawal, a high-powered delegation had protested his appointment on ethnic and religious grounds, but Buhari rejected the objections.
He further alleged that some northern senators, working with allies in the executive and the media, coordinated efforts to remove him from office. “I find this amusing because it was clearly a setup to get me out of the office,” he wrote.
Dalung's Criticism
Meanwhile, former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, has frowned on the primary election that produced Atiku. Reacting to the primary during an interview on a podcast hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, the former minister said: “I am not proud of the presidential primary that produced Atiku Abubakar because it fell below my expectations. But, of course, that is what we have now, and it is not good enough because I expected that we in the ADC would have done much better than this.
“I was an electoral officer; I witnessed some of these things that happened, and, of course, we should have outgrown them by this stage.”
Atiku's Statement
Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, noted Lawal’s recent public attacks as devoid of facts and evidence and instead relied on “ethnic profiling and inflammatory rhetoric” aimed at discrediting political opponents.
He said the most troubling aspect of Lawal’s interventions was what he called a persistent effort to associate an entire ethnic group with the actions of a few criminal elements. “It was both dangerous and irresponsible to suggest that any Nigerian should be judged, condemned or held accountable for crimes committed by individuals simply because they share a common ancestry,” Atiku said.
According to him, such reasoning threatens national cohesion and could further widen existing fault lines in a country already grappling with insecurity, economic hardship and political tensions. “By such flawed reasoning, every ethnic nationality in Nigeria could be collectively blamed for the actions of a few criminal elements within their communities, a mindset that has historically fuelled division and undermined national unity,” he added.
