A fresh leadership crisis is threatening to tear apart the African Democratic Congress (ADC), as former Gombe governorship candidate Nafiu Bala on Thursday declared himself the party’s Interim National Chairman, a position currently held by ex-Senate President David Mark.
According to Bsgistnews, Bala made the declaration during a press conference in Abuja, citing his position as the duly elected National Deputy Chairman as the basis for his claim to the interim leadership. He accused unnamed party elites of orchestrating what he described as “political hooliganism” aimed at hijacking the party’s structure and derailing its constitutional framework.
“The party’s structures have been handed over to powerful outsiders who were never members of the ADC,” Bala alleged. “This act of mortgaging our future and undermining internal democracy is unacceptable.”
David Mark, a former Senate President, was appointed as the ADC’s interim national chairman after the opposition coalition formally adopted the party as its political platform. Bala, however, insists that the party’s constitution has been grossly violated in the process and that his ascension is both legal and necessary to restore order.
“We are all living witnesses to the show of shame being orchestrated by those who previously held leadership positions,” Bala said. “Their abdication of responsibility and collaboration with external forces constitutes an affront to the values and constitution of our great party.”
He further declared that if the ongoing internal usurpation is not halted, the matter will be taken to court to challenge the “gross acts of impunity.”
Bala also issued a public call to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), urging the electoral body to recognize him as the party’s legitimate interim leader and uphold the ADC’s constitutional process for leadership succession.
“The constitution of our great party clearly stipulates how vacancies are to be filled. As the National Deputy Chairman, it is now my constitutional duty to step in as Interim National Chairman,” he stated.
He reaffirmed his commitment to safeguarding the party’s democratic principles and warned against further attempts to subvert its internal mechanisms. “We shall not stand idle while political strangers stage-manage leadership changes and rewrite our party’s rules from the outside,” he emphasized.
The unfolding leadership tussle is likely to spark deeper divisions within the ADC as stakeholders await INEC’s response and possible legal fireworks in the days ahead.
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