The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has denied reports that it endorsed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, or that it formed an alliance with any presidential candidate for the 2023 election. Reports had emerged earlier that the ADC collapsed its structure to ally with the Labour Party.
The event, including the formation of the star alliance, was attended by ADC National Chairman, BoT Chairman, and a chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), Professor Pat Utomi. The ADC stated that the party’s faction members stage-managed the endorsement and have been seen endorsing any candidate.
ADC claimed the alleged endorsements were fraudulent, void, and of no effect, since they were being carried by a faction of the party not known to law for pecuniary gains. The ADC, in a statement in Abuja, described the endorsements as anti-party activity, blaming a faction of the party led by its immediate past National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu.
The faction of the party led by its Presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu, maintained that Dumebi remained its candidate and had no connection to the viral endorsements. It stated that Nwosu’s faction had divided itself into three groups, now illegally endorsing parties like the APC, PDP, and now Labour Party, all in a bid to make quick money.
The leadership of ADC has warned those involved in the act to desist or face the full wrath of the law. It insisted that its Presidential Candidate for 2023, Dumebi Kachikwu, had “long warned about criminals in ADC who sell the party to the bigger parties.
The party, under the interim leadership of Senator Patricia Akwashiki, said that those who did the endorsements were “impostors” and “impersonators” who were no longer members of the party and therefore had nothing to do with the authentic ADC recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The ADC added that it was determined to ensure that the bright chances of all ADC candidates in the forthcoming general elections are not sold or mortgaged, as was the practice in the past. The party also emphasized that the arm of the law would soon catch up with all those responsible for these criminal and shameful activities.
