ADC Leadership : Between Logic And Emotions, By Tunde Abatan

ADC Leadership : Between Logic And Emotions, By Tunde Abatan

Towards the end of last week, a friend and colleague gave me an unusual call.

The essence of the message he passed on to me is not to join the so- called chorus of those celebrating African  Democratic Congress, ADC leaders plight in the face of INEC decision to de-recognise  its leading lights following the Federal High Court ruling.

He averred further that rather than joining those mocking ADC,I should pause and ask myself whether  the ruling government is doing well by discreetly killing opposition.

To him, INECs decision to act on a court judgement which ADC actually instigated through its action  against INEC is pregnant and points in one direction-the incumbent governments penchant to kill opposition and practically foist a one- party state on the nation.

He believes that voices of opposition is being surreptitiously silenced by behind- the- scene actions of the ruling government.

He also pointed out the gale of defections by state governors as abnormal.

I saved my breadth.

 Since the INEC is still the recognised electoral umpire, it is not out of place for it to be under watch for any slight sign or demonstration of  favoritism or pandering  to the government of the day .

It is left to INEC  leadership to prove otherwise.

In the early 90s late jurist and one -time Chief Justice of Nigeria, Teslim Olawale Elias, declared that the biggest  problem of our democracy is that the ruling elite or rather politicians are impatient with democratic principles.

They wanted things done in a jiffy without following due process forgetting that the judiciary remains the final  interpreter of whatever  they do either before, during election or while in office.

As I observed last week in my column, the biggest problem of latter day politicians and office seekers is that they are not only  inconsistent, they are in a hurry to climb the rope to the top even when it  is clear to all and sundry that the rope may  either be too tender to climb and sustain them or rather the foundation on which it is fastened is rather weak.

While the ADC leaders are eager to consummate a marriage with ADC after ‘ejecting’ from the PDP sinking boat, it is now apparent by the turn of events that they only use their big status and name to ‘purchase’ the ADC from an outgoing Chairman who obviously was also in a hurry to sell the party to the highest bidder without considering his lieutenants especially his deputy ,Nafiu Gombe, who watch in dismay as the new big men tenants led by  Abubakar Atiku, two term Senate President David Mark and former  Governor and Minister, Rauf Aregbesola ride rough- shod on the small but technically consequential men in ADC who have piloted its affairs for years before being ‘sold’ to new owners.

In other words, Atiku and co only bought the engine  of the political  party without considering the body which holds the parts together.

There is a Yoruba saying that there is no way a person will walk without the head shaking-ko si bi a se le rin ti ori ko ni mi.

The head of the ADC is shaking now because the rest of the body is vibrating.

Even in corporate world, buyers of old companies often do due diligence before deals are sealed    and they assume  leadership.

One of such bad deals taken in the early 20s was during the privatization exercise.

It  was the sale of  African Petroleum, AP, to Atiku’s surrogate company Sadiq petroleum.

The bad debts swept under the carpet when the deal was sealed came popping later and today the rest is history.

 Another company bought back APs shares in Sadiq Petroleum.

Today, hell has been let loose over what observers perceive as ruling governments move to stifle opposition.

But then, the ruling of the Federal High Court gave a window for the ADC to return to status quo ante-the situation that obtained before the appeal by the ADC to Federal High Court.

 For now, the ADC has an opportunity to appeal the courts ruling while at the same time it had the opportunity of reconciling with the forces and or faction  in the party  which it ignored in the hurried ‘purchase’ of  what has become a Special Purpose Vehicle by its supposedly experienced leaders to achieve its individual  and corrective ambitions.

Former Vice President  Atiku is not new to wheeling- dealing in politics having been a veteran of the game since the SDP and NRC days prior to the botched Ibrahim Babangida’s political transition programme .

 Hence, one expects him to have envisaged that intrigues and scheming’s   by forces within and without parties could rear its head in  ADC more as it did over 30 years ago.

To have ignored the other tendencies in ADC before consummating its ‘purchase’ amounts to sweeping the problems under the carpet.

This is imperative because  Nafiu Bala Gombe-who is the arrow head of the opposition within ADC and who claim the right  to step into  Ralph Nwosu’s shoes, is waiting  to take over the affairs especially since the latter’s  notice of resignation is not yet over when Nwosu handed over to Mark and co.

Again, is it mere anger that Presidential  candidate of ADC in 2023, Dumebi Kachiku accused Nwosu of selling the party to new stalwarts who by now are now weighing new options to move forward.

That Kachiku claimed that the ADC claimants failed to resolve the internal conflicts in the Party they purchased, to realise the leaders individual and collective ambitions?

Could a house divided against itself stand?.

Why did it take new ADC ‘buyers’ four clear months  from July, when Nwosu stepped down to September 2025 to write INEC of new leadership?

If the ruling APC lost opportunity  to contest election in Rivers, Bayelsa  in 2023 why should ADC not run away from such open pit dug for itself by its leaders eagerness to build a house on nothing ?

Why should ADC leaders repeat the mistake committed by the Turaki faction of the PDP by organising the ‘Christmas Carol’ of a convention in December last year only for it to wait for INEC big hammer to fall.

On this issue, Josiah Amupitan, INEC Chair  advised the ADC to wait for court processes or if it likes it can opt to continue with its planned convention processes starting  April 7 and end on April 14.

Amupitan justified INECs position  to derecognise Atiku, Mark and co adding, “We didn’t just take a decision, we didn’t just wake up one day and took this decision.

So if they are going ahead with their convention it’s left to them.”

In all modesty, is Amupitan not going the extra mile to help the ADC leaders not to fall into same pit which their parent party fell to earn it its present comatose condition?.

Maybe one is being immodest by expecting something different from the same tactless leaders who killed PDP by changing rules  of engagement  within the party and drove it aground for selfish motives.

Or could it just mean that  the ADC leaders are willfully playing into the hands  of the ruling government for some other unexplained reasons?

But then, is its decision to write ‘love’ letters to some foreign countries  like United states, United Kingdom, France on what they described as suppression of democratic rights in Nigeria not just an exercise in raising emotions and sympathy when  the law court is there to lodge their complain?

Since Nigeria is a sovereign nation, there is little  the letter  could achieve.

All politics  is local.

Or could it mean that the judiciary too is suspected  of having been compromised in the Electoral processes before the race opens.

Interesting  days ahead for the ADC and politics of succession in Nigeria as the nation moves closer to next year’s elections.