ADC faction announces plans for national convention; disowned Mark, Aregbesola and others

The leadership crisis plaguing the African Democratic Congress (ADC) appears to have taken another turn, as a faction within the party led by former presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu, has announced plans to hold a national convention and establish an interim leadership to manage the party’s affairs.

This was revealed by the faction’s spokesperson, Norman Obinna, on Tuesday, during a media briefing, saying that the former party officials were trying to transfer leadership to people who were not members of the party.

He noted that the decision for the national convention was reached at an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC), in Abuja.

Obinna stated that the meeting was attended by state chairmen and other NEC members, and was held to address the ongoing leadership crisis of the party.

He added that one of the main outcomes of previous Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) efforts was an agreement that the party would hold a national convention to produce new leadership, a process he said has not been implemented nearly two years later.

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“The main result of the ADR signed by both parties is that the ADC will inevitably hold a convention to produce new leadership. This has not been done for almost two years,” he said.

According to him, the former national leadership under Ralph Nwosu attempted to illegally transfer control of the party to individuals who were not members, while also trying to sideline the existing state chairman.

The group revealed that they had filed two court cases challenging the legality of the move, even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) took a stand recently.

Citing what it said was the absence of a National Working Committee since August 2022, the faction stated that the NEC remained the legitimate highest authority within the party.

Obinna outlined several resolutions reached at the meeting, including the official separation from rival coalitions led by prominent political figures.

“We are separating ADC from David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, Bolaji Abdullahi, and all coalition members. Any actions they take in the name of ADC are not binding on the party,” he said.