Following the outcome of the 2023 general election, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has set up a seven-man peace and reconciliation committee to resolve all intra-party disputes.
According to a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mabel Oboh, the committee will also ensure harmony, discipline, and respect for the party institution and values.
She added that Lady Jumoke Lawoyin and Dr Aminu Anas would serve as chairman and secretary respectively while Hon Salman Idris, Mabel Oboh, Chief Biola Are, Hon Hauwa Lawal, and Barr Emeka Igwe would serve as members.
The statement added that the committee was established after the recommendation of the ADC National Secretary, Alhaji Said Baba Abdullahi who headed the 2023 General Election Cycle Appraisal Team.
“It would be recalled that shortly after the party primary elections that produced the various flag bearers for the party for the 2023 general elections, the party which had relatively been peaceful and focused for over sixteen years of its founding, was embroiled in some crisis that led to members discomfort, infighting, leadership tussle, and a few court cases,” the statement read.
“It was observed that as much as many political parties in Nigeria face internal rancor, ADC’s internal squabbles could have been avoided but for the indiscipline on the part of some members, aspirants, and candidates on one hand and lack of proper screening template on the other. Another factor was also due to misinformation and deliberate propaganda.
“The Alh Said Appraisal team observed that our party was penetrated by fifth columnists, ominously planted in ADC, but were agents of destabilization from other parties.
“The ADC 2023 Performance Appraisal and General Election Review Committee made it clear that the crisis and the antics of some fifth columnists were largely responsible for ADC’s not-too-impressive performance and failure to meet its set targets. Alh Said’s report observed that over 90 percent of the purveyors of the whole trouble were contestants and members who were election-year entrants to the party with less than 6 months of membership.
“The committee report cautioned that ADC puts a two years ceiling for any member before standing for any election or becoming an executive member at both state and national levels,” Abdullahi was quoted in the statement.
National Chairman of the party, Chief Ralph Nwosu, urged the committee to urgently pursue reconciliation to bring back ADC glory and find accommodation for all top presidential candidates and other contestants that felt aggrieved due to the impasse.
He urged the committee to “bring back all well-intentioned members and take all steps to restore harmony” and “restore the ADC as a peace-loving, ethically grounded transformational political party respected within Nigeria and across the African continent.”
Oboh further stated that the party resolved that all its internal disputes must never again be allowed to go to courts for resolution but resolved within.
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