The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, has said former Senate President David Mark and his allies seized control of the party by pushing out existing executives and replacing them with loyalists through illegally constituted committees.
Kachikwu made the allegation on Arise TV on Thursday, a day after a Federal High Court in Abuja restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising congresses organised by the Mark-led faction.
The court also barred the former Senate president and other prominent figures in the party from interfering with the functions and tenure of elected state executives.
Reacting, Mark assured party members through a statement by the partyâs publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, that the ADC would be on the ballot for all elections in 2027, despite the ruling.
He said the partyâs legal team had applied to appeal the judgment and had sought a stay of execution.
âYou do not have anything to be afraid of regarding all the litigations before the party.
âI want to assure you that we shall triumph in all the cases, and we shall be on the ballot for every election.
âWe are more than prepared and ready for these cases, and we shall do everything within the ambits of the law to surmount every situation,â he said.
However, Speaking on Thursday, Kachikwu said the partyâs constitution vested the conduct of congresses and conventions in state chairmen, making the Mark factionâs committees an illegal override of that structure.
âIn our constitution, the congresses are conducted and midwifed by the state chairman. Same thing with the convention,â he said.
He said the faction established ad hoc committees to supplant state executives and install preferred officials, prompting a wave of complaints from party members across the country.
âSo those congresses, what David Mark did, they set up ad hoc committees and had these committees take over the functions of the stateâs escrows to bring in people they wanted.
âSo Iâve had people calling me from all the states, they pushed us out, they pushed us out, they took over our party structure or whatever,â he said.
Kachikwu said state chairmen who initially backed the Mark faction later reversed course after being sidelined and told they were not the class of people the faction wanted around it.
âSome of these state chairmen were working with David Mark because they believed that these people would take the party forward, before they realised that these guys said, you guys are too poor for us, you are commoners, we cannot work with you, we need people who look more like us,â he said.
He said the chairmen subsequently returned to him, conceding that his earlier warnings had been correct.
Kachikwu said a Federal High Court in Abuja subsequently nullified the congresses and national convention organised by the faction, with the presiding judge describing the proceedings as a kangaroo convention.
He claimed that the court exposed the factionâs deception after its lawyer denied before the judge that a convention was underway on the very day it was being held.
âThe judge asked their lawyer this question, is it true that you are conducting a convention? And the lawyer said, absolutely not. On the same day they were conducting that convention,â he said.
Kachikwu described the factionâs conduct as a deliberate agenda to wreck the party, saying no group that walked into an organisation already weighed down by court cases across Nigeria could claim to have meant well for it.
âWhen you come to a party that has multiple court cases across Nigeria, and you say that thatâs the party youâre going to work with, your intention is to fail,â he said.
He also warned that he would not be blamed for resisting the takeover, saying he had stated clearly from the beginning that such moves would not stand in the ADC.
âNobody should say to me that Dumebi Kachikwu, you are the one who is tightening democracy by stopping these people. I made very, very clear that it will never happen in this party,â he said.
The Supreme Court is expected to deliver judgment on Friday in the appeal filed by Mark challenging a March Court of Appeal order directing the parties to maintain the status quo in the leadership tussle. The case is listed for 2pm.
Mark has argued that the dispute is an internal party affair beyond judicial intervention. The respondents, including the ADC, former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu, and INEC, have urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal.
On Wednesday, Kachikwu had also reacted at a press conference in Abuja, shortly after the verdict, describing the judgment as long overdue.
âI had long warned that the ADC is not for sale and that these political buccaneers would be shown the way out through the same back door they came in from.
âWith this judgment, it has become clear that these desperados who attempted to hijack our party have failed woefully. We are aware that they are shopping for other parties to destroy and wish them bon voyage.
âTo our party faithful, I urge you to remain vigilant. The battle is not over till it is over. The ADC will be on next yearâs ballot, and any Nigerian who genuinely desires to salvage Nigeria should see the ADC as a ready home. We shall overcome,â he said.
Also speaking at the Wednesday press conference, the chairman of the ADC state chairmen, Kingsley Oggah, described the judgment as a relief and a validation of their position.
âWe see todayâs court judgment as a blessing because what we have been fighting for has been resolved. We donât want this party to die because we have laboured so much and spent time that canât be quantified building it.
âBut a few people, because of their selfish interest, are trying so hard to destroy the ADC. That is what we will not accept,â he said.
He warned that INEC had threatened to deregister the party if it failed to win elections, saying the factionâs attempt to seize control put that prospect at risk.