Coalition: ‘Forceful’ takeover of ADC NEC illegal — Rep Abejide

•as Kogi ADC denies lawmaker’s rumoured suspension

Sole African Democratic Congress (ADC) member in the House of Representatives, Hon Leke Abejide, has described what he termed as the attempted “forceful takeover” of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of his party by the coalition of politicians led by former Senate President, David Mark, as illegal.

Abejide said the coalition to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 election is “bound to collapse”.

Abejide, a second-term serving lawmaker who represents Yagba East, Yagba West and Mopamuro Federal Constituency, Kogi, won his elections to the Green Chamber back-to-back in 2019 and 2023 on the platform of the opposition ADC.

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He was also the governorship flagbearer of the ADC in the 2023 Kogi governorship election.

Speaking during the meeting of “Critical Stakeholders of the Leke Abejide Political Family” held in Abuja on Friday, he dissociated himself from the ADC coalition and called on his supporters to join hands with him to “chase out marauders” from ADC.

Participants at the meeting cut across party lines, including ADC, All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from across the three senatorial districts in the State and other parts of Nigeria.

Abejide said the meeting became imperative to clarify his status of party allegiance.

Amid recents calls on him by various groups of supporters in Kogi State to join APC and his sustained vocal support for President Bola Tinubu’s reelection in 2027, speculations were rife as to wether he had defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or still in the PDP.

He, howeve, affirmed that as the party’s lone and highest elective office holder, he remains a member of the “original ADC” in Kogi and at the federal level not what he termed as the “Kangaroo Coalition ADC with the intent to seize the party”.

Abejide noted that; “We shall join hands to chase out political marauders from People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and other parties that have formed a coalition (in ADC). We have been watching their characters since they claimed to have joined ADC as a coalition, it is clear now that they came with a notion to hijack the party structures, suppress original members of the party, and want to use the party to achieve their aims and objectives which is dead on arrival.

“Their recent activities in Kogi state are a mockery of democracy, those who came through the window and back doors are now claiming to be leaders of ADC in Kogi state. When we were nursing the party and maintaining the structures of the party both at the National level and in Kogi State, where were they?

“It is evident that they destroyed their political parties and have come to ADC solely to achieve the same aim. We will not allow them to destroy ADC. On this premise, we shall seek legal actions by approaching the court of law, as the highest member of NEC to challenge the illegality of the so-called Interim National Working Committee”.

Noting that while the normal procedure demands that the NEC meets to consider the resignation of members of the National Working Committee and new ones elected and ratified, in this instance “there was nothing as such at all”.

He added; “Everything the so-called coalition has done is a nullity and thereby rejected by the original ADC members in Kogi state. There is going to be a new coalition of ADC, with other parties to support President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term in office. For the naysayers, they are only digging their political graves, as you will all go into political oblivion after 2027. We remain the original members of the African Democratic Congress”.

A chieftain of APC, Chief John Fabola, said the meeting was a deliberate joint-action of supporters loyal to Abejide across party divides in Kogi state and beyond.

“He has said he is still in the APC like a rock of gilbralter. Any steps he decides to take further he will not hesitate to let us know. This is what he has made clear to us and I believe we understand that. He is the landlord of ADC, not only in Yagba Federal Constituency, Kogi State but at the federal level. The aim of the coalition is to unseat President Bola Tinubu. We are here to ensure they did not succeed and they will not succeed,” he said.

In related development, Kogi ADC Secretary, ‎John Adaji, has described the suspension of Hon Leke Abejide from the party as “illegal and unfounded”.

He also denied signing the purported suspension letter.

Adaji’s clarification is coming on the heels of a statement in circulation issued in Lokoja earlier on Friday and credited to him, citing “gross insubordination, and anti-party activities” as reasons behind Abejide’s suspension from the party.

Adaji was quoted in the statement as saying the decision to suspend the federal lawmaker was due to his recent meeting with some members of the party in Abuja without clearance from the leadership of the ADC in Kogi.

“The Kogi State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has suspended one of our members serving in the National Assembly. The affected person is Honourable Leke Abejide, representing Yagba East-West/Mopamuro Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives”.

However, in a statement issued in Lokoja dated August 1, 2025, Adaji declined signing the suspension letter.