ADC presidential candidate Dumebi Kachikwu says Atiku Abubakar backed faction can not install David Mark as interim chairman, insists Ralph Nwosu’s tenure expired in 2022.
Kachikwu dismisses “take-over” claim: says Atiku-led faction has no legal standing to appoint a new national leadership.
Ralph Nwosu’s tenure “ended in 2022”: multiple court cases already challenge his continued claim as party chairman.
Full Story
Abuja, Nigeria, Dumebi Kachikwu, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2023 election, has rejected reports that former Senate President David Mark has been appointed interim chairman of the party by a group aligned with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
In a statement on Monday, Kachikwu described the announcement as “a dramedy” and insisted that the faction behind it lacks constitutional authority.
> “You can’t build something on nothing,” he said, arguing that the tenure of the former ADC National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, “lapsed on 21 August 2022.”
Kachikwu likened the faction’s move to “entering a man’s house through the back door and declaring yourself landlord,” adding that the courts are already handling suits over the party’s leadership.
The ADC flag-bearer criticized the Atiku-backed bloc as “yesterday’s men” seeking to revive what he called a “chopping-must-continue ambition.” He accused the group—comprising former governors, ministers, and other long-time politicians—of presiding over decades of under-performance in Nigeria.
> “We have nothing to show for their decades of leadership other than a nation divided by tribe and religion,” Kachikwu said.
Kachikwu urged Nigerians to reject “greedy and selfish old men” and embrace “new names, new faces, fresh ideas.” According to him, the ADC stands for merit, inclusiveness, and “proposing solutions, not just opposing.”
He concluded by telling the faction to “come through the front door” if they wish to join the party legitimately and predicted they would soon be “shopping for another party.”
