We’ll challenge ADC takeover in court – Kachikwu

The takeover of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) leadership by a coalition of defectors is designed to give former Vice President Atiku Abubakar a platform to contest the 2027 presidential election.
ADC presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Dumebi Kachikwu, said this yesterday in his second reaction in 24 hours to Wednesday’s unveiling of Senator David Mark as Interim National Chair of the party.
He hinted that the coalition defectors’ action will be challenged in court.
On Wednesday, ADC national chairman Ralph Nwosu announced that he had resigned to pave the way for Mark.
Two others – former Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola and former Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi – were also announced as national secretary and publicity secretary.
Kachikwu, at a news conference, alongside seven state chairmen from Benue, Niger, Nasarawa, Akwa Ibom, Borno, and Jigawa States, as well as erstwhile national spokesman, said: “Let them declare publicly that the next flag bearer will come from the South. If they do, I’ll welcome them through the front door.
“But we all know they won’t, because this is a coalition designed for Atiku, and that’s a betrayal of balance and equity.”
The former presidential candidate said he had previously engaged with the coalition advocates, including former ministers and senior political figures, but ended all talks when it became clear the arrangement was designed to return Atiku to power.
“I asked a simple question: Do you agree that since Tinubu is in his first term, the South should produce the flag bearer in 2027?
“Their immediate response was, ‘We are taking our power back.’ That was a red flag.”
He rejected any arrangement that discounts Southern participation in future leadership, calling it a return to recycled leadership and ethnic-based politics.
“Imagine my situation, someone who came fifth in the last presidential race, and I’m told that because I’m from the South, I should foreclose my ambition. That was an absolute no-no,” he said.
He added that even if the coalition eventually agrees to present a southern candidate and formally approaches the ADC, the party would still conduct a primary election.
Kachikwu confirmed that legal action is under serious consideration.
“Yes, the option of court is absolutely on the table. We are exploring all avenues, and we will not rest until this injustice is reversed,” he said.
According to Kachikwu, the first step is to demand that INEC clarify who currently occupies the position of party chairman.
If a leadership vacuum is confirmed, he said, the ADC state caucus, composed of elected chairmen, will convene a national convention to elect new officers and restore order to the embattled party.
“We’re asking INEC: Is there a chairman in this party, or is there a vacuum? If there is, then we need to convene a convention immediately to elect new leadership. That’s our pathway to resolving this crisis,” he said
Kachikwu stressed that the chairmen in his camp were elected at the party’s April 2022 convention, with valid mandates running until April 2026.
“They were not appointed on WhatsApp or Facebook. They were elected by the people,” he pointed out.
He faulted INEC for tolerating parallel structures within the party under former interim chairman Ralph O. Nwosu, accusing the electoral body of enabling confusion.
“For three years, INEC allowed Nwosu to appoint parallel chairmen. We’re now asking the same INEC to clarify who leads ADC. This time, they must act,” he said.
Kachikwu slammed the abrupt announcement of a new interim chairman by the rival faction, who allegedly received his ADC membership card during the very event where he was named leader.
“In a democratic society, how does it make sense that someone is made interim chairman and given his party card at the same event? That’s not a merger. That’s a hijack,” he stressed.
He decried the rise of what he called “toxic social media politics,” which he said is foreign to the ADC’s values.
Since rejecting the faction’s legitimacy, Kachikwu said he has been targeted with threats, online abuse, and even preemptive media attacks.
Kachikwu said on Wednesday that Nwosu was no longer the party chairman, having been sacked by a court in 2022.
He said his camp would petition INEC, explore legal redress through the courts, and rally the support of grassroots party members across Nigeria to resist the undemocratic hijack.