The African Democratic Congress (ADC) recently faced significant scrutiny regarding the conduct of its primary elections, with allegations of widespread irregularities and malpractices in both governorship and presidential contests. Hon. Solomon Dalung, former Minister of Youth and Sports Development and Chairman of the ADC electoral committee, cancelled the governorship primary elections in four local government areas of Nasarawa State due to alleged irregularities, violence, and other controversies. The affected areas included Nasarawa, Doma, Toto, and Karu, each presenting unique challenges.

In Doma, no election was reportedly conducted, yet written results were submitted, and agents confirmed they had not received carbon copies. In Toto, electoral officers claimed detention by unknown persons for hours before presenting results obtained under duress. Nasarawa LGA saw materials distributed at a vigilante post, with the officer reportedly denied permission to proceed and later handed pre-determined results. Karu experienced pre-election violence, an attack on the party chairman, the abandonment of the process by the electoral officer, and the subsequent submission of results by an unauthorized person.

Dalung emphasized that ADC's direct primary guidelines require physical counting of party members and corresponding result sheets for validity. He explicitly stated that direct primaries are invalid without evidence of physical counting, quoting the party's motto that the electoral committee would not recognize or accept any election where members were not physically counted. He also highlighted Section 10 of the Electoral Act, which criminalizes unauthorized possession of electoral materials, punishable by up to five years imprisonment or a N10 million fine. Dalung confirmed collating results from nine local government areas and awaiting returns from the remaining four, promising a full report to the ADC national secretariat.

Adding to the party's woes, presidential aspirant Mohammed Hayatu-Deen decried alleged malpractices in the party’s presidential primaries, stating the process lacked transparency and fairness. Speaking after the exercise in Borno State, Hayatu-Deen reported receiving numerous calls urging him to step down for an unnamed candidate, which he found disturbing. He detailed instances in Kaduna State where party faithful were falsely informed of a consensus and his withdrawal, and in Zaria, where elections had not taken place by late afternoon, denying people their voting rights. He also noted that in Southern Borno, electoral officers failed to fill result sheets in the presence of voters, instead walking away to fill them elsewhere, calling these acts