The governorship primary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Rivers State has produced two candidates.

It resulted from a power struggle between a faction loyal to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and one controlled by the former Transport Minister, Chibuike Amaechi.

After the internal poll, a Governorship Primary Electoral Committee, chaired by Dr. Agu Bryan, who was detailed from the national headquarters, declared a former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Farah Dagogo, a known Atiku loyalist, as the governorship candidate.

The committee said the party’s direct primary poll was held across all 319 wards of the 23 local government areas in the state, and that Dagogo polled 64,700 votes ahead of his nearest challenger, Dr. Sokonte Davies, who got 9,050 votes.

Bryan said the election was conducted in line with the party’s guidelines, and having satisfied all expected requirements, Dagogo was declared the winner.

The announcement elicited jubilation from many party supporters, who trooped to the streets of Port Harcourt to celebrate the victory.

Dagogo accepted the victory, saying it belonged to every member of the ADC and every Rivers resident who believed in a better future for the state.

He said: “I am deeply honoured to have emerged from among several distinguished and highly qualified aspirants who equally sought the party’s ticket. This victory is not mine alone; it belongs to every member of our great party and every Rivers citizen who believes in the possibility of a better future for our state.

Dagogo urged Rivers people to rise above division and embrace unity, inclusiveness, and collective responsibility.

But no sooner had the committee announced the results than Amaechi’s loyalists in the party countered the emergence of Dagogo, saying the result collation was still ongoing.

Another electoral committee, chaired by Carol Obaro, later sat and declared an Amaechi-backed aspirant and former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Gabriel Pidomson, as the governorship candidate in the state.

The committee claimed that Pidomson scored 112,086 votes to defeat four other aspirants who contested the primary election across the 23 local government areas of the state.

Obaro made the declaration after collating the final results at the ADC secretariat in Port Harcourt on Saturday night.

She said that of the other aspirants, Sokonte Davies polled 16,872 to come a distant second, while Dagogo scored 2,369, placing him third in the contest.

Obaro said: “Therefore, the highest score I have here is 112,068 votes for Gabriel Pidomson. Having satisfied the requirements of the ADC and the constitution, he scored the highest votes and is hereby declared the winner of the primary election and is returned elected as the ADC gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State this day, 22nd of May 2026.

“I, Hon. Carol Obaro, as Chairman of the Primary Election Committee in Rivers State, so declare.”

Other aspirants who contested in the primary election were Leloonu Nwibubasa, who scored 1,476 votes; Allen Ezekiel Hart, 268 votes; and Henry Ogbonna with 546 votes.

In his acceptance speech, Pidomson thanked his fellow contestants, saying there was no victor and no vanquished.

But Farah Dagogo’s Media Aide, Ibrahim Lawal, said his boss remained the authentic governorship candidate of the ADC in Rivers.

He said the committee saddled with the responsibility of conducting the primary election spent days handling its assignment and later announced the results that affirmed Dagogo as the winner.

Ibrahim, however, said that shocked by the announcement, the state leadership of the party immediately assembled a committee that announced a contrary result within 48 hours. (The Nation)

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