Controversy has rocked the governorship primary of the Rivers State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as three contestants are laying claim to winning the poll.
The three contestants – Gabriel Thompson, Dr Allen Ezekiel-Hart and Farah Dagogo have declared themselves winners of the primary election which was held on Saturday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Addressing journalists in Abuja Saturday evening, Ezekiel-Hart, said the exercise was deliberately skewed in favour of Thompson, whom he alleged, had the backing of former Transportation Minister, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
Rejecting the outcome of the exercise, Ezekiel-Hart described it as a “shambolic charade” that has now produced “three governorship winners” within the same party.
“Right now, we have three governorship candidates in one party, all thanks to Amaechi’s high-handedness,” he alleged.
The aspirant warned that unless the party’s national leadership intervenes urgently, the development could trigger a major crisis within the opposition party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The aggrieved aspirant alleged that although the party’s official timetable fixed the governorship primary for May 23, aspirants were abruptly informed late Friday that the exercise had been rescheduled.
According to him, while he was mobilising supporters across the 23 local government areas of the state in preparation for the poll, fellow aspirant Farah Dagogo allegedly informed him that a parallel primary had already been conducted without his knowledge.
He accused the Rivers ADC leadership of selectively inviting only aspirants perceived to be loyal to Amaechi while excluding himself and Dagogo from the process.
Insisting that the exercise was a “kangaroo arrangement,” Ezekiel-Hart alleged that it was designed to “coronate” Thompson as the preferred candidate.
He further alleged that other aspirants were earlier pressured to step down for Thompson under what he described as a disguised consensus arrangement, despite the party’s public position that no consensus candidate would emerge.
He further claimed that Dagogo later approached him with a proposal for both men to jointly resist what he termed “Amaechi’s camp,” while at the same time asking him to publicly endorse his self-declared victory.
“He (Dagogo) told me to go on air and congratulate him, saying we are from Atiku Abubakar’s political family and should unite. I told him to stop rubbishing Atiku’s name. Atiku will not be part of this nonsense,” he said.
Ezekiel-Hart also alleged that he was offered political compensation, including the possibility of serving as Secretary to the State Government, if he endorsed the victory of the preferred aspirant.
Stating that he rejected the alleged offer, Ezekiel-Hart said he subsequently declared himself winner to counter the claims of Thompson and Dagogo.
“As it stands, Dagogo declared himself winner, Thompson was declared winner by the state exco, and I also declared myself winner. Three winners in one primary that never held. This cannot stand,” he stated.
Stating that his participation in the primaries followed established due process, Ezekiel-Hart said the exercise was slanted to favour the Amaechi camp.
“How can someone who is demanding transparent presidential primaries at the national level turn around and impose a governorship candidate in Rivers?” he queried.
The aggrieved aspirant called on the ADC national leadership to nullify the exercise and either conduct a fresh governorship primary or adopt what he described as a lawful consensus arrangement in line with the timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“The most pragmatic thing now is for the NWC to order a rescheduled primary or quickly adopt a lawful consensus option. Time is running against us,” he said.
But the party’s national leadership had earlier stated that state primaries are strictly within the purview of the respective state executive committees.
In a notice by the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi on Friday, the party said the national secretariat would only handle presidential, governorship and National Assembly primaries.
However, despite his grievances, Ezekiel-Hart pledged to pursue his complaints through the party’s internal mechanisms. “We will exhaust every legal channel within the party,” he declared.
“I will not rock the boat unnecessarily, but the party must recognise that I won the primaries,” he stressed.
