The tension in the African Democratic Congress since its adoption by the opposition coalition, worsened last week following the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise the new leadership structure chaired by a former President of the Senate, David Mark. Sunday Aborisade in this piece examines the fears of legal and electoral jeopardy probably awaiting the party if the 2023 presidential candidate of the party, Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, have his way in court.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC), once considered a relatively quiet player in Nigeria’s bustling political scene, has suddenly found itself strategically planted in the national spotlight.
What began in June, 2025 as a series of leadership adjustments has exploded into a full-blown crisis, one now widely described as a battle for the soul of the party. At the heart of this political storm are the competing claims of the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu and a new interim leadership headed by former Senate President, David Mark and former Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola.
The tension has not only raised questions about party ownership and internal democracy, but also about the future of the opposition movement ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The root of the crisis can be traced to the sudden resignation of the party’s long-time National Chairman, Ralph Okey Nwosu, in late July 2025. Nwosu, who had led the ADC since its inception, had for years been the face of the party’s image.
His exit came at a time when opposition forces were beginning to align with a view to forming a broad coalition capable of challenging the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027.
Just weeks after his resignation, the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) met and adopted a set of resolutions empowering itself to act pending its National Convention.
In that same meeting, a new list of national officers was released, naming David Mark as interim National Chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as interim National Secretary.
This move was believed by many as a strategic masterstroke, a timely alliance of seasoned political veterans designed to breathe life into the party and position it as a formidable platform for the coming elections.
The involvement of influential figures such as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Labour Party leader, Peter Obi; former Rivers State governor, Hon Rotimi Amaechi and former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, among others, further signaled that ADC might serve as the crucible of a united opposition front.
However, Dumebi Kachikwu, who ran on the ADC’s presidential ticket in 2023, quickly emerged as the most prominent dissenting voice.
He accused the interim leadership of illegitimacy and described their emergence as a hijack orchestrated by political veterans with no real connection to the grassroots of the party.
In several public statements, Kachikwu questioned the legality of the NEC resolutions, arguing that the tenure of the former chairman, Nwosu, had actually expired in August, 2022. According to him, any decisions made under Nwosu’s authority since that expiration lacked constitutional backing and could not be used to usher in a new leadership.
Further intensifying the drama, Kachikwu accused leaders of the newly formed coalition of attempting to buy their way into control of the ADC. He alleged that sums as much as ₦20 million were being offered to state chairmen to resign and thereby create leadership vacancies to be filled by loyalists of the interim executive.
These claims, he insisted, were emblematic of an elite-driven power grab designed to disenfranchise the party’s base and undermine its democratic ethos.
In his view, the ADC was in danger of being transformed from a party of ideals into a mere platform for the ambition of recycled political heavyweights.
Parallel to Kachikwu’s objection was a curious development. The party’s Deputy National Chairman, Nafiu Bala, also threw his hat into the ring, declaring himself interim National Chairman.
Citing the party’s constitution, Bala argued that the resignation of the chairman automatically elevated the deputy into the vacant office, a position he said he intended to occupy until a proper convention was held. His claim, though not as widely publicized as Kachikwu’s, added another layer of complexity to the unfolding crisis.
Amid these competing claims, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was faced with the unenviable task of determining which faction had legitimate standing.
After several weeks of internal review and document verifications, INEC on September 10, 2025 formally recognised the Mark-led interim executive as the official leadership of the ADC. The list published by the commission named David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, Mani Ibrahim Ahmad (National Treasurer), Akibu Dalhatu (Financial Secretary), and Professor Oserheimen Osunbor (Legal Adviser), among others, as the newly recognised officials of the party.
This INEC recognition was, by all accounts, a significant victory for the Mark-led coalition. It meant the group now had full access to the party’s national secretariat, official correspondence channels with INEC, and most critically, the authority to submit candidate names and conduct party primaries in the build up to future elections.
With this recognition, the coalition also succeeded in consolidating its control over the party’s administrative structure, marking a turning point in the leadership tussle.
Yet, for all the weight that INEC’s recognition carries, it has not settled the question of legitimacy in the minds of many party faithful.
Kachikwu, for one, has continued to insist that the entire process that led to the Mark-led leadership was riddled with constitutional breaches, financial inducements, and even instances of document forgery.
He pointed to inconsistencies in court submissions, signatures allegedly forged, and what he described as a grand conspiracy to undermine the party’s integrity.
More broadly, he warned that what was playing out in the ADC was not just a leadership crisis, but a moral one, a deliberate subversion of the very principles upon which the party was founded.
The Mark camp has rejected these accusations, stressing that the party acted within its constitutional bounds. According to them, the NEC resolutions were legally valid and necessitated by the leadership vacuum created by Nwosu’s exit.
They have positioned their takeover as a patriotic intervention, designed to rescue the ADC from stagnation and align it with the broader aspirations of the Nigerian electorate. In public statements, Mark has emphasized that the party under his watch has not endorsed any presidential candidate for 2027 and remains open to all who share its vision for reform and good governance.
Despite these assurances, questions linger. For one, the lack of a national convention continues to be a sticking point for critics who argue that the NEC cannot substitute itself for the wider membership of the party.
There is also the unresolved matter of Nafiu Bala’s constitutional claim, which, though largely sidelined in public discourse, may yet find its way into the courts. The danger, as some observers have noted, is that the ADC could find itself mired in a long-drawn legal war, undermining its ability to mobilize effectively ahead of the elections.
There is, moreover, the broader concern of perception. Many of the figures now associated with the party, including Atiku, Mark, Aregbesola, are seen as symbols of Nigeria’s political establishment.
To younger, reform-oriented Nigerians who supported the ADC in the past for its fresh approach and anti-establishment ethos, the current developments may seem like a betrayal.
The optics of seasoned politicians using internal party maneuvers to gain control risk alienating a critical segment of the party’s base, particularly the youth and independent voters who have long clamoured for genuine change.
Nonetheless, there are those who argue that the ADC’s embrace of experienced political actors may be what is needed to transform it from a fringe movement into a national force.
With INEC recognition secured, the challenge before the new leadership is to unify the party, hold a transparent national convention, and lay the groundwork for a credible showing in 2027.
If the leadership can manage these tasks while addressing the grievances of internal stakeholders, it may yet succeed in repositioning the ADC as a viable alternative to the APC and the PDP, ahead of the 2027 general elections and beyond.
The leadership must, however, resist the temptation to impose decisions from above, must ensure that its actions are guided by the constitution, and must avoid the perception of being driven by personal or factional interests.
The recent allegations of bribery, document forgery, and unconstitutional succession processes cannot be swept under the carpet. They must be addressed transparently if the party is to maintain credibility.
Ultimately, the struggle for the soul of the ADC is about more than who sits in the party’s national secretariat. Is it about the kind of political culture Nigeria wants to nurture, one driven by boardroom deals and elite consensus, or one built on constitutional order, grassroots engagement, and transparent leadership.
As the ADC continues to navigate these troubled waters, Nigerians will be watching closely, not just to see who wins the leadership contest, but to determine whether the party can still live up to its founding promise.
In the end, it may well be that the real measure of who controls the ADC is not INEC’s list or court judgments, but whether the party can convince ordinary Nigerians that it is a platform worth believing in.
If it fails to do so, the fight for the party’s soul would have already been lost, regardless of who claims victory at the top.
