ABUJA: Former Adamawa senator, Ishaku Abbo has traced the lingering leadership crisis within the African Democratic Congress ADC to a breach of trust involving the displacement of Nafiu Bala Gombe as National Vice Chairman Northeast in favour of a former Secretary to the Government of ten Federation SGF, Babachir David Lawal.
In a detailed statement shared via his verified Facebook handle on Saturday, Abbo revealed that the turmoil began after Gombe and the previous National Working Committee NWC resigned to allow a new leadership led by Senator David Mark to take over.
He noted that a pre-merger agreement to cede specific positions to the “legacy party” was systematically discarded during the formation of the current NWC.
“The crises rocking the ADC in Nigeria started after my brother from Gombe, Nafiu Bala, resigned from office as Deputy National Chairman together with the entire National Working Committee to pave way for the Senator David Mark-led NWC to take over,” Abbo stated.
He explained that while it was agreed that Nafiu Bala would step down from his deputy chairmanship to occupy the lesser position of National Vice Chairman, Northeast, the new leadership however reneged.
According to the Senator, Babachir David Lawal was installed in that position instead, allegedly on the grounds that the younger Gombe was “unfit” to lead in a zone featuring high-profile political figures in the party.
Abbo quoted the former SGF as questioning, “How can Nafiu Bala, a small boy, become a National Vice chairman in a zone that has the former Vice President and former SGF?”
He noted that Gombe was instead offered the lesser role of Zonal Financial Secretary, which he rejected before embarking on a mission to “bring the whole roof down.”
The Senator further alleged that the internal friction has been hijacked by external forces, including a powerful serving governor from the Southeast, a former minister from the Northwest, and a current minister from the South-South.
He claimed that these actors have assembled lawyers and influenced the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to destabilize the party.
“I am also aware that the current onslaught from INEC on ADC was engineered by a very powerful minister from the South South with the support of few others. Infact in the Villa today, everyone is claiming that he is responsible for the crisis in the ADC just to curry favour from the president,” the lawmaker alleged.
Contrasting the ADC’s internal politics with the ruling APC, Abbo pointed out that the APC allowed a youth to serve as its National Vice Chairman for the Northeast despite the presence of the Vice President and the National Security Adviser NSA in the same zone.
He lamented that Gombe felt “belittled and insulted” by the ADC leadership’s stance.
While calling for a resolution, Abbo urged Gombe to withdraw his court case and rejoin the party’s progress.
He also warned the electoral umpire, stating; “I call on INEC to rescind their APC Agenda or else Amupitan will be worse than Maurice Iwu.”
