Nafi’u Bala, a former governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Gombe, has declared himself as the national chairman of the party.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday night in Abuja, the former national deputy chairman of the ADC accused the David Mark-led leadership of unlawfully taking over the party and breaching its constitution.
Bala said “bonafide” party members will challenge the alleged takeover of the party in court.
“We wish to draw the attention of all members of our great party and Nigerians at large, to the ongoing acts of political hooliganism being perpetrated by some individuals who were hitherto entrusted with the leadership of the party,” he said.
“We are all living witnesses to the show of shame and acts of lawlessness being displayed by these unscrupulous leaders, who, without any qualm or sense of moral restraint, plunged our party into a needless crisis and leadership uncertainty.
“The idea of mortgaging the future of our great party, by abdicating the constitutional duties and responsibilities of all elected officers of the party, to some powerful outsiders who never belong to the party, is condemnable.
“Recently, the nation woke up only to be greeted by a shoddily rehearsed political melodrama, in which elected roles were switched with certain groups of political strangers in order to facilitate the complete takeover of the party structures and their political appurtenances.
“This total surrender and capitulation is without any known precedent in our democratic journey to constitutional order. We are therefore strongly resolved and collectively determined to challenge this affront and ensure that the party’s laid down rules and stipulated provisions are respected and strictly adhered to by all those who belong to it.
“In case these individuals choose to ignore our urgent calls to obey our constitutional guidelines and thus remain very obdurate and recalcitrant in their aberrant behaviour, we shall proceed with gusto to challenge these gross acts of impunity in the courts and bring them to justice.
“It gives us enormous pain to inundate you with these scandalous happenings in our party, but we have been left with no other option to take in defence of our inalienable constitutional rights, as evident by the prevailing situation we now find ourselves in the party.
“In the history of democracy all over the world, no party leader or any group of leaders have the power to arbitrarily transfer elected mandate or political authority to non-members who never belonged or contested for political office.”
He said the constitution of the ADC contains explicit provisions outlining succession procedures and processes for filling vacant positions.
The chieftain said in line with the party’s constitutional guidelines, he has assumed the role of interim national chairman of the party.
Bala asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to “urgently” acknowledge and recognise him as the party chairman.
