The newly appointed chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dr Mani Ibrahim Ahmed has insisted that the presidential candidate of the party, Mr Dumebi kachikwu remains suspended from the party.
Speaking when he was unveiled at the party secretariat in Abuja today, he also stated that the punitive measure slammed on 17 states chairmen of the party by the Chief Ralph Nwosu-led national working committee (NWC) of the party still subsists.
The party chief who enjoined Kachikwu to explore avenues of mobilising votes to actualise his presidential ambition hinted that their suspension from the party could still be reversed by the appropriate organs of the party.
Ahmed who frowned at the attempt by Dumebi and the states chairmen to create disaffection in the party maintained that their antics would not stop the party from jettisoning the pursuit of over 2000 contestants of the party vying for various elective seats across the country in the 2023 poll.
Ahmed who was the presidential candidate of the party in the 2015 poll threw his weight behind the continuous stay in office of Nwosu as the party chairman arguing that it was in line with the party constitution.
Faulting the notions held in certain quarters that the party is factionalized, he argued that there was nothing wrong with Nwosu occupying the seat of the party chairman for the past 17 years since it was endorsed by successive conventions of the party.
“We don’t have a faction here. The electoral management body recognizes the leadership of the party. The legitimacy and authority are here in the national headquarters of the ADC,” he said.
“We don’t do things by the fire brigade. The 17 chairmen who are less than half of our chairmen remain suspended. Because a large number of people meet to do something wrong does not make it right. What they did was in clear contravention of the party constitution.
“There is nothing that is happening that is against the constitution of the party. Convention through convention in every election he had been returned to be the chairman of the party. Mind you we had a humble beginning. I am sure about 10 years ago not many people were talking about ADC.
“It is now that the party has grown when people are beginning to show interests that some people want to come in and want to destabilize the party. The chairman has no problem with anybody.
“We expect candidates to concentrate on campaigns, build their campaign structures and move into the campaigns to win votes.
“As chairman of the BOT we would try as much as possible to galvanize the party and part of these little tears and wears that is coming out would be fixed. We have high hopes of winning seats at various levels.
” Elections are not just about the presidency. There are a lot of persons contesting for the House of Representatives, Senate, and House of Assemblies across the states. We have almost 2000 of them. We cannot because of the ambition of one person to jettison the remaining. we are a responsible party.”
