I’m Not Telling You What I Heard, I’m Telling You What I Was Physically Present —Akala Blasts Dalung

ADC Chieftain, Hon. Sam Akala has accused the governorship primary election committee of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Nasarawa State of improperly excluding votes from Karu Local Government Area during the party’s governorship primaries.

Speaking during an interview on Trust TV on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, Akala insisted that he personally witnessed the events that unfolded during the exercise and was not relying on secondhand information. “So I am not telling you what I heard. I am telling you what I was physically present,” he said.

According to him, party stakeholders intervened early in the process to ensure that the approved list of electoral officers was used for the elections after disagreements emerged over alleged attempts to replace the original list. “I was present in the office and we ensured that they used the right list. So that was the beginning of the challenge we had in Nasarawa state,” Akala stated.

He explained that elections for the State and National Assembly positions were conducted first, followed by the governorship primary the next day, using the same list of electoral officers. “So, and fast forward, the election of the state assembly, houses of assembly, the national assembly took place. And then the following day, the election of the governorship took place. The same list was used,” he said.

Akala, however, alleged that major controversies emerged in Karu Local Government Area, where he claimed more than 10,000 party members were eventually excluded from the governorship primary results despite participating in the exercise.

“And then there are challenges in a few local government, majorly, Karu, which led to the unfortunate exclusion, non inclusion of over 10,000 members of the party who waited from 8 a.m. in the morning and casted their vote at about 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the evening,” he stated.

He further accused the electoral committee, led by former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, of rejecting the votes from Karu based on claims that the electoral officer assigned to the area abandoned his duties and fled over security concerns.

“Only for the state electoral committee led by His Excellency Barrister Solomon Dalung to say, after collating the votes, came out yesterday and said that they will not include the votes of Karu because the electoral officer they sent to Karu local government abandoned his job and ran away for no reason,” Akala alleged.

He dismissed claims that the official’s life was under threat, insisting that there was video evidence showing the officer peacefully carrying out his responsibilities. “He came to Lafia and spew out lies that his life was at stake. We have video evidence where he was peacefully discharging his responsibilities,” he said.

Akala explained that the election process was conducted at ward headquarters and not at local government secretariats, adding that the role of the electoral officer was mainly to distribute and retrieve election materials from ward officials. “Remember that this election only took place at the ward headquarters. There was no election at the local government,” he said.

“So the man sent by the committee was only to deliver election materials to the ward electoral committees. After election, he takes possession of them and returned to Lafia, the state capital, to deliver to the electoral committee,” he added.

The ADC chieftain argued that the electoral committee lacked the authority to reject votes, stressing that complaints arising from the election should have been handled by the party’s appeal committee instead. “So the committee decided flagrantly because the committee did not have the right to reject any vote. There is an appeal committee,” Akala stated.