{"id":8319,"date":"2025-08-29T17:07:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/?p=8319"},"modified":"2025-08-29T17:07:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:07:05","slug":"atiku-backs-electoral-reform-donates-yola-property-as-adc-state-secretariat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/29\/atiku-backs-electoral-reform-donates-yola-property-as-adc-state-secretariat\/","title":{"rendered":"Atiku Backs Electoral Reform, Donates Yola Property as ADC State Secretariat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yola, Nigeria \u2013 August 29, 2025<\/strong> \u2013 Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar<\/strong> has called for sweeping electoral and judicial reforms<\/strong> to restore credibility to Nigeria\u2019s democratic process. He made the call in a statement on Thursday, warning that the current system undermines public trust and shifts power from voters to judges.<\/p>\n

Atiku, now a prominent chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC)<\/strong>, said reforms are necessary to protect voter integrity, promote judicial independence, and restore legitimacy to the ballot.<\/p>\n

\n

Atiku Warns of Declining Voter Turnout, Cites 2023 Figures<\/h3>\n

\u201cOf the 93.47 million registered voters in 2023, only 24.9 million voted \u2014 a mere 26.72% turnout<\/strong>, the lowest since 1999,\u201d Atiku stated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He argued that unless reforms are enacted, citizen participation<\/strong> will continue to dwindle, eroding the foundations of Nigeria\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n

\n

Proposed Reforms: BVAS, iREV, and Electoral Act Amendments<\/h3>\n

Atiku proposed nine key reforms<\/strong> to restore electoral transparency:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Mandatory BVAS use<\/strong> for accreditation and electronic result upload<\/li>\n
  2. No discretion for INEC<\/strong> on manual accreditation or result transmission<\/li>\n
  3. Collation at all levels<\/strong> (ward, LGA, state, national) must rely solely on iREV-uploaded results<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Ban on manual collation or transmission<\/strong> at any point in the process<\/li>\n
  5. INEC leadership<\/strong> should be chosen through democratic voting by the public<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. INEC must prove compliance<\/strong>, not the petitioner, in election disputes<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    He cited Prof. Chidi Odinkalu\u2019s book \u201cThe Selectorate\u201d<\/em>, noting how judges now \u201ctopple the people\u201d and influence leadership outcomes outside of elections.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe power to choose leaders must return to the people \u2014 not a conclave of elite interests,\u201d Atiku emphasized.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \n

    Political Shift: Atiku Donates Yola Property to ADC<\/h3>\n

    In a major political gesture, Atiku donated one of his personal properties in Yola<\/strong> to serve as the Adamawa State Secretariat of the ADC<\/strong>. The building, formerly used as the PDP\u2019s state office<\/strong>, is located near the famous Mubi Roundabout<\/strong> in Jimeta.<\/p>\n

    According to Umaru Jada<\/strong>, ADC\u2019s Zonal Organising Secretary, the building \u201coffers a befitting workspace\u201d and symbolizes Atiku\u2019s growing commitment to the party.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Atiku’s Exit from PDP Reshaping Adamawa Politics<\/h3>\n

    Atiku\u2019s defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)<\/strong> last month triggered a wave of high-profile defections to the ADC, including:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Senator Aishatu Ahmed (Binani)<\/strong> \u2013 2023 APC gubernatorial candidate<\/li>\n
    • Senator Jibrilla Bindow<\/strong> \u2013 Former APC Governor (2015\u20132019)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      The moves are part of Atiku\u2019s strategy to build ADC into a dominant political force in Adamawa State<\/strong> and possibly beyond.<\/p>\n

      \n

      ADC Gains Momentum as Atiku Pushes Reform Agenda<\/h3>\n

      With a fresh base in the ADC<\/strong>, Atiku appears poised to influence national electoral reform discussions and reshape political dynamics ahead of 2027 general elections<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      He concluded his statement by reaffirming the importance of aligning technology, law, and political will to ensure free, fair, and credible elections in Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Yola, Nigeria \u2013 August 29, 2025 \u2013 Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for sweeping electoral and judicial reforms to restore credibility to Nigeria\u2019s democratic process. He made the call in a statement on Thursday, warning that the current system undermines public trust and shifts power from voters to judges. Atiku, now a prominent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Atiku urges major electoral reforms, warns of voter apathy, donates former PDP secretariat to boost ADC in Adamawa.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8322,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8319\/revisions\/8322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}