How ADC lost its groove, fell back into crisis

• Post-election burden stirs party When the African Democratic Congress (ADC) announced the expulsion of its presidential candidate from the party, it was the culmination of its many missteps in the preparation general elections next year.

Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu's emergence as ADC's presidential standard-bearer came as an anti-climax given the general common expectation that the ticket was Professor Kingsley Moghalu to lose. In addition to losing the party's presidential nomination, Prof. Moghalu resigned his ADC membership. In his resignation letter, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) complained about the hanky panky that followed the June 4 presidential primary, stressing that he would not want to associate himself with a process corrupt.

Just 48 hours after resigning from the party, the ADC experienced a cascade of defections, losing nearly 100,000 members in the space of two weeks. It was apparent that the result of the presidential primary election ran counter to public opinion, even as allegations of insider collusion raged.

Perhaps the biggest blow to the party was the decision by members of the National Youth Council to leave the ADC en masse. Numbering more than 1,000, the young people had joined CDA in response to Professor Moghalu's call for a new policy with youth participation to build, innovate and develop the country.

In a letter to CDA National Chairman Chief Ralphs Okey Nwosu, New Media Director Salihu Abdulkadir said their decision to step down had become inevitable in response to "the mismanagement of the election presidential primary of the party".

While regretting that defections followed Dumebi Kachikwu's loss to Prof. Moghalu, Abdulkadir remarked, "This decision was taken as a result of broken promises and lack of transparency to the ADC youth council. Our problem is the management of the party primary. ADC primary is the worst primary. APC's was better."

He revealed that a careful assessment of the poll results raised doubts about the party's desire to win the 2023 presidential election, noting, "After due consultation with various stakeholders and over 30 affiliated youth groups, the National Working Committee, on behalf of all its members and said affiliated groups have decided to withdraw their CDA membership.

"The state president took delegates but they were only on paper, they weren't the real people voting. The party president just gave people tags with money to vote. If I win the election and after a trial you can lose your seat, so what's the point?"

He explained that as the party's candidate for the Gombe State Assembly, he had decided to stand down to avoid greater calamity, insisting that the president had promised more than he could not deliver. Abdulkadiri said the NYC resignation was a blow to the party, as he said, “the ADC National Youth Council has been one of the foundations of the party's strength. It has nearly 200,000 members, not including 30,000 office holders in 36 states. »

It may be recalled that shortly after Prof. Moghalu was voted Nigerian Man of the Year in a widely circulated online poll by TopFlyers Magazine, his ADC membership earned the party a good massive will and helped gain members. In the online survey, the former CBN Deputy Governor beat two other candidates, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which suggested a possible upheaval and a preference for a generational change in the 2023 leadership selection process.

But that optimism dissipated when Dumebi Kachikwu proved the bookmakers wrong by beating the lawyer and political economist to second place. Stung by the flawed process, Moghalu, who contested the 2019 presidential election on the Young Progressive Party (YPP) platform, tendered her resignation from the party.

In the resignation letter to ADC national chairman Nwosu, the former presidential candidate complained about duplicity and financial incentives in the presidential primary, contrary to assurances from the national leadership of the party.

Moghalu said, "I am writing to tender my resignation from my membership in the African Democratic Congress, with immediate effect. I have resigned because the process and conduct of the party's presidential primary on June 8, 2022 in Abeokuta revealed a fundamental conflict of values ​​between me and your party leadership.

"Despite the circular you issued a few days into the primary committing the party to providing transport and accommodation for delegates to and from Abeokuta, and which, as we agreed, would ensure a level playing field for all presidential candidates, the party under your leadership failed to do so.

"Some aspirants including myself have made donations to the ADC party account as needed...