Kachukwu no longer ADC member

Kachukwu no longer ADC member – Spokesman

The Interim National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, hinted over the weekend that the party’s candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Ibe Kachukwu, was no longer a member of the party.

He was quick to add that the party is united and not factionalised in any way as some had portrayed it.

Abdullahi made this known in Abuja while interacting with journalists.

The decision that brought the new leadership of the party according to him was unanimously taken at the 99th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party, which was observed by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) “as required by the process, by the rules.”

The party spokesman went further to describe some narratives of the erstwhile candidate as disturbing, accusing him of making inflammatory and divisive statements, which he said are doomed to fail.

 

The party he boasted would not be bothered by their antics, saying: “we are focused now on just building our party,”

Abdullahi, who castigated Kachukwu and other aggrieved persons for going as low as dragging the reputation of the judiciary into their political fight, reminded them that the party has taken its decisions and have moved on.

While also reacting to the purported court order restraining INEC from recognising Senator David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as the National Chairman and Secretary of the party, respectively, the NPS dismissed it, insisting that no such injunction was given.

Abdullahi spoke further: “We know from day one that what brought us into the coalition, the very forces that were destabilising the other opposition political parties, are not going to allow the ADC coalition to just fly without challenge.

“The people spreading the stories that the court has restrained the party leadership are people who are directly connected to people within the government circle.

“Luckily for us, unfortunately for them, the ruling was very clear. The prayer that was put before the court was outrightly rejected, and the only thing here that has implication for us is that we should be put on notice and that we should make our appearance on September 15.

“The court could not have given such an injunction because INEC had already recognised the leadership.

“So you can’t give an injunction to something that has already happened.

So, the question of leadership of a party has been settled by the Supreme Court.

“The leadership of a party and the candidate of a party is entirely the business and the decision of the party; that is the Supreme Court position.

“Whatever they are doing is not going to hold water; it’s doomed to fail.

“We just didn’t expect that they would go as low as dragging the reputation of the judiciary into their political fight.

“So we, as the African Democratic Congress, are not going to be bothered by this. We’ve taken our decisions, we’ve moved on, and we are focused now on just building our party.”

When asked how the party intends to manage subsequent crisis, Abdullahi assured that it was was ready to discuss with anyone who has genuine grievances.

“We had people who had expressed one grievance or another. We have managed to recognise some legitimate grievances, and we have dealt with them.

“But when people are just being belligerent, to the extent that you have no reason to doubt that they had an ulterior motive, which is to destabilise the party and create a condition that makes it difficult for the party to move forward. We can’t continue to appease those kinds of people.

“So tomorrow, if whoever is willing to sit down to have a conversation to say, look, this is my grievance, or these are my grievances, and I will be happy for it to be addressed. I can assure you that those grievances will be addressed to the extent that they can be accommodated.

“But if what you are doing is to continue to drag the party back, to continue to create a condition that Nigerians would think that we are permanently in crisis, don’t forget this was the same thing that was done to PDP. This was the same thing that was done to the Labour Party. This was the same thing that was done to SDP,” he said.