Controversy has engulfed the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Rivers State following a parallel declaration of a governorship candidate after the party’s primary election held on Friday.

Seven aspirants had initially indicated interest in contesting the party’s governorship ticket in the state.

It was gathered that six of the seven candidates attended a meeting on Friday where party leaders considered adopting a consensus arrangement instead of proceeding with a full primary election.

Allen Heart, one of the aspirants, was absent from the meeting.

Sources said only two aspirants agreed to step down in favour of Gabriel Pidomson, while others rejected the arrangement and insisted on proceeding with the primaries to test their popularity.

Later on Friday evening, one of the aspirants and former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Farah Dagogo, was reportedly declared the party’s governorship candidate.

A video circulating on social media shows individuals said to be ADC officials announcing that Dagogo won the party’s direct primaries conducted across 319 wards in the 23 local government areas of the state, with 64,700 votes.

His closest rival, Dr. Sokonte Davies, was said to have polled 9,050 votes.

The announcement was made by Dr. Agu Bryan, who was described in the video as the Chairman of the ADC Rivers State Governorship Primary Electoral Committee, alongside other committee members.

Also present at the collation centre were individuals identified as representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Dr. Bryan, in the video, stated that the exercise was conducted in line with the party’s guidelines and that Dagogo emerged victorious after meeting all required conditions.

However, the ADC, in a statement issued on Friday night, dismissed reports that a candidate had emerged from its ongoing governorship primaries, insisting that collation of results was still in progress.

In the statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary, Chizy Enyi, the party said no official declaration had been made by the appropriate electoral body of the ADC.

The party urged members, aspirants, support groups, and the general public to disregard any publication or announcement claiming that a candidate had already emerged.

It reiterated that the governorship primary process is being conducted in line with its guidelines and assured stakeholders of a transparent, free, and fair exercise.

The State Chairman of the party, Dr. Chukwudi Dimkpa, also confirmed to MEWSMEN that no candidate has been announced, stressing that collation of results is still ongoing.