Bashir Ahmad, a former media aide to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that the All Progressives Congress rigged him out when he contested for the party’s House of Representatives ticket in 2022.

Mr Ahmad, who was mocked for garnering just ‘16 votes’ by musician David ‘Davido’ Adeleke amid a heated political debate over the forthcoming governorship election, explained how he was rigged out by his party in 2022.

“Since the conversation surrounding my participation in the 2022 House of Representatives primary election has resurfaced, though I am not yet ready to reveal, in detail, everything that transpired during that process, but I feel it is important to say this unequivocally: it is simply not true that I got 16 votes. The reality is that there was no credible primary election in the first place,” Mr Ahmad said.

The former Buhari aide dismissed Davido’s mockery that he got just 16 votes in the House of Representatives primary election, accusing his party of rigging him out of the contest.

“If there had been, I am very confident I would have been the winner. There is verifiable evidence of how the process was rigged, including videos and other materials that support my claim. Therefore, any figures being circulated by Davido, his supporters or anyone else from that purported exercise are misleading and do not reflect a transparent, legitimate or credible primary election,” Mr Ahmad said.

On Thursday, Davido mocked Mr Ahmad, who predicted that his uncle, Ademola Adeleke, would be defeated in the Osun State governorship election scheduled for August 15.

“You got 16 votes bro in primaries STFU!!,” Davido lashed out, responding to Mr Ahmad’s post on X.

Mr Ahmad’s statement that he was rigged out in the 2022 APC primary election elicited responses from netizens on social media.

Automobile influencer @Sarkinmota_AMF asked Mr Ahmad, “Just so we’re clear: are you now saying that the primaries conducted by the same party that produced your principal, who was the sitting President at the time, were neither free, fair nor credible?”

Another X user, @Joshuaelijahms5, said, “I first bust laugh(sic) when I see something like ‘The reality is that there was no credible primary election in the first place.’ So you guys know that there’s no free and fair elections. I thought we are the only ones seeing that the system is corrupt.”