By Alexandra Umeh

A new leadership crisis has hit the African Democratic Congress (ADC), following the declaration by Nafi’u Bala, a former Gombe State governorship candidate and immediate past deputy national chairman of the party as the interim national chairman.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday night in Abuja, Bala accused the faction led by former Senate President David Mark of unlawfully hijacking the party’s leadership in contravention of its constitution.

He described the situation as a “shameful political takeover orchestrated by outsiders,” and vowed to pursue legal redress.

He said, “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 claimed that ADC’s structures have been illegally handed over to political figures with no legitimate affiliation to the party, warning that such actions threaten the principles of internal democracy.

Bala’s announcement comes on the heels of the July 2 declaration by the party’s founder and former national chairman, Ralph Nwosu, who dissolved the national working committee (NWC) and endorsed an interim leadership headed by David Mark.

That development followed the recent adoption of the ADC as the coalition platform for the 2027 general elections by a group of opposition leaders, including Atiku Abubakar, Uche Secondus, Aminu Tambuwal, Peter Obi, Nasir el-Rufai, and others.

However, Bala dismissed the move as a “political melodrama” and a gross betrayal of the party’s core values, arguing that it excluded genuine party stakeholders while empowering “political strangers.”

“In the history of democracy all over the world, no party leader or group of leaders has the power to arbitrarily transfer elected mandates or political authority to non-members,” Bala emphasized.

Citing the party’s constitution, he said it clearly outlines succession procedures, under which he now assumes the role of interim national chairman.

“I call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently recognize me as the legitimate chairman of the African Democratic Congress,” he stated.

Bala also warned that if the Mark-led group persists in disregarding the ADC’s constitution, he would initiate legal proceedings to overturn what he described as an “unprecedented act of impunity.”

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