.Rival Groups Announce Competing Suspensions, Expulsion
LOKOJA: The Kogi State chapter of the African Democratic Congress ADC has been thrown into a deep crisis, with two rival factions emerging and announcing the suspension or expulsion of opposing leaders, raising questions about the party’s true leadership and direction.
The conflict became public on Monday when a faction led by Kingsley Temitope Ogga declared the immediate suspension of five prominent members, including the party’s former governorship candidate, Hon. Leke Joseph Abejide.
This group, which also announced its readiness to align with the interim national leadership of Senator David Mark, accused the suspended members of “anti-party activities” and “insubordination.”
The other suspended members, according to the statement signed by Ogga, are Dr. Idris Omede (Abejide’s running mate in the last Kogi Governorship Election), Hon. Johnson Tayo, Lukman Usman Adedayo, and Olabode Kayode.
The faction cited a meeting at a hotel in where they alleged the members “usurped the powers of the leadership.”
It also directed the suspended individuals to appear before the national working committee for a hearing in Abuja on August 11.
However, a rival faction quickly countered, dismissing Ogga’s authority and claiming he was expelled from the party years ago.
Speaking for this group, Mr. Johnson Tayo, whose name appeared on the list of those suspended by the Ogga faction, stated that Ogga was expelled from the party in 2022 and that his current actions are “null and void.”
“We do not recognize the leadership of Kingsley Ogga,” Tayo said, adding that his continued claim to the chairmanship is causing “untold damage.”
This faction called for Ogga’s arrest for impersonation and for allegedly forging members’ signatures.
Furthermore, Tayo’s faction declared Hon. Leke Abejide as the authentic leader of the ADC at both the state and national levels, citing his status as the party’s “only elected member in the entire country.”
The faction dismissed Ogga’s purported suspension of Abejide as “laughable.”
The competing claims highlight a fractured state party, with each side asserting its legitimacy and taking actions against the other.
The two factions also appear to be at odds over the national party’s direction, with Tayo’s group dissociating itself from the anti-President Bola Tinubu national “coalition movement” that Ogga’s faction had embraced.
