Dr. Dumebi Kachikwu, the Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC has thrown his weight behind the call for the resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu
It will be recalled that 27 state Chairmen of the party on Wednesday called for the resignation of the National Chairman. The state Chairmen said according to the party’s constitution, the tenure of the Chairman had expired.
Nwosu had stated in office according to the state Chairmen for 17 years.
Reacting to the call, Kachikwu said he is in support of call, stressing the need to obey the constitution of the party.
He said, ” I align myself with the position of the state chairmen in insisting that the constitution must be respected.”
The Chairmen had caused a stir on Wednesday when they called for the removal of the party National Chairman.
The Chairman of the Kogi State Chapter of the party, Hon. Kingsley Temitope Ogga,
He alleged that people who were not members of the party attended the NEC meeting pointing to the ‘false’ NEC members while briefing newsmen.
Narrating how events played out during and after the NEC meeting, he said, “I’m the one that called for a NEC meeting and I told the Chairman, he said it said it was a welcome idea.
“But to my surprise before 11 am, due to some logistics some of our Chairmen can’t fly all the way, some are coming from Sokoto. We now said they should give us time, like two hours, which they did.
“By the time we came, they had locked the door, they didn’t want to allow all the Chairmen to come in, they only allowed me to come in and when I saw my other Chairmen standing outside, I had to go back and ask they come in.
“When they even allowed us to get in, they were no sits for the Chairmen. They only gave me sit, I said I cannot sit down when my Chairmen are standing. And I looked at congregation, I saw people who are not even members of the party, thugs.
After we have been prevented by the police, not until the Commissioner of Police called and sent people here, before they allowed us to go in. After which, I called for a walkout.”
Ogga listed the demand of his colleagues to include When asked what the Chairmen demanded, he said, “We are standing by our resolution that there’s no way that the NEC have decided the tenure of the National Working Committee, their tenure has expired and should remain dissolved.
“What we are asking for is that a caretaker committee should be put in place and we give them time, within one month, we conduct national convention. The tenure is expiring on the 28th of this month.
“For good 17 years he has been the National Chairman and constitutionally it’s not right. We don’t want this party to crumble. They rated us as the third force. But now today, the way they are handling this party, they are trying to kill it. Go to Kogi state and ask of ADC, we have a sitting House of Reps member, we have been doing well in our federal constituency.”
Reacting, Chairman of ADC, Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu, said the party cannot afford to host another convention, saying that the focus of the party is the 2023 general elections.
“We’ve held the NEC, the NEC meeting has resolved that because of the election coming, we cannot afford to hold another convention at this time for the interest of the party. We now decided to focus on our campaign, we don’t want any fragmentation. And that the convention will come a year after now. The NEC all seated were in support.
“The NEC constitutes the National Working Committee members, the Zonal Chairmen and all the national officers. We had a very cordial meeting. You know we are an emerging party, people are scared of our energy, therefore it’s possible that some people are being sponsored.
“I can assure that by the grace of God within the next 48 hours I’m going to get you intelligence of how money has moved around since Monday till now, just because some people want to disrupt our system.
Within the next 48 hours we will get you intel of how money moved round to disrupt ADC.
“This is a major NEC. Before we did our Presidential primaries, we had almost 12 aspirants running under ADC. By the time we finished it became a big problem we had to set up committee upon committee to start the process of reconciliation, up till now we are still on it.”
Come 2023, Nwosu boasted that the party would churn out at least 15 Governors, 60 percent of National and State assembly members, as well as getting its Presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu to the Villa.
His words, “We want to run our Presidential, state, National and State assembly elections without any problems, we believe we are headed for the Villa. Whoever is trying to sponsor anything in this party they will fail I can assure you.
“I can assure that we are taking our Presidential candidate to the villa and we would take at least 15 governors in this next election and we will deliver 60 percent of national assembly members and 60 percent of State assembly members.
“No matter the people causing problems in ADC, this is our time and we will have it by the grace of God.”
