ADC: Coalition falls apart as faction confronts David Mark, others in fresh battle

An African Democratic Congress (ADC) member of the House of Representatives, Leke Abejide yesterday described the coalition group members who have taken over the affairs of the party as political marauders.

He vowed to team up with other ‘original’ members of the party to chase out such people.

Abejide (Yagba Federal Constituency in Kogi State) spoke to reporters in Abuja 24 hours after Nafiu Bala, a former National Deputy Chairman of ADC from Gombe State declared himself the party’s acting national chairman.

Osun State governor Ademola Adeleke who was reported to be on his way to the ADC yesterday denied any such move on his part.

“I’m an original member of ADC, not Coalition ADC, and I want to assure that we shall do all we can to chase out the political marauders that came from PDP, Labour Party, and part of the struggling APC into our party,” Abejide said.

He said any attempt to hijack the ADC by individuals with no historical ties to its founding would not stand.

He said: “When I was nursing the party, where were they? When they destroyed their parties, PDP and LP, we will not allow them to destroy ADC like that.”

He said those now laying claim to the leadership of the party entered through the window, bypassing the legitimate democratic processes and party structures.

Continuing, he said: “I have been watching their character since they claimed to have ADC, and it has become clear to me that they came to the party to hijack the structure, suppress the original members, and use the platform to achieve their aims and objectives.”

The lawmaker said that as the most senior member of the party’s National Executive Committee, he would not fold his arms and watch the party ‘stolen.’

“On this premise, we shall explore legal opinion on the way forward, and I may likely approach the court, as the highest member of the ADC NEC, to challenge the illegality of the so-called current National Working Committee,” Abejide said.

He reaffirmed his loyalty to the founding vision of the ADC, stressing that the party must remain true to its foundational principles and not be reduced to a platform for desperate political actors seeking shortcuts to power.

“I am proud that I am a member of the party and I am a strong reminder of the original beliefs—not irrational beliefs,” he stated.

Dr. Musa Isa Matara, who was the National Publicity Secretary of the party before he was supplanted, accused the coalition-led interim leadership of excluding original ADC members from recent national appointments.

“The coalition team came and appointed people as they liked, without considering the original members in their appointment list,” he told The Nation.

He said that although the Ralph Nwosu-led NEC had handed over the party leadership to Chief David Mark in the presence of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the action of the new leadership fell short of their public commitment to unity.

“Our expectation based on the speech made by David Mark was that he is going to carry all the party structure, all ancestry, without any segregation or bias,” he said.

He alleged that over 50 appointments were made into the new NEC without any inclusion of longstanding ADC members, saying, “none of our ADC members was appointed into positions. It means it’s a hijack.”

He said the ‘original’ members are behind Nafiu.

He added:“We will not allow them to come into our party and hijack the structure of the party without including our members.

“So we are forming a new faction ADC, which we have our leader as Nafiu Bala from Gombe, who was the Deputy national chairman, and is now stepping in as National Chairman of the party.”

He said their faction would be unveiled today.