Nigeria, Sept. 22 -- Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal has joined the Nigeria Democratic Party a few months after resigning from the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Mr Lawal announced his defection in Abuja on Tuesday at a gathering of the party's leaders.

He left the ADC in June after he alleged that its presidential primary, which produced former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, was manipulated.

"I sense a conspiracy of silence of which I want no part. Most members of the party are behaving as if this is the normal thing to do. Results were just written or rewritten to favour him and his coven. Even where they allowed some semblance of (an) election to hold, the winners were simply replaced with mem...