Ex-presidential candidate accuses Atiku-led coalition of bribing ADC state officials to vacate office

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2023 election, Dumebi Kachikwu, has accused the Atiku Abubakar-led coalition of offering N20 million to state chairpersons of the party to vacate their positions.

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On Thursday, Mr Kachikwu made the allegation in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES.

Atiku, a former Nigeria’s vice president and presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, is leading a coalition of some opposition leaders working to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

The coalition has adopted the ADC as a political party, and the previous national officers of the party, including its National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, stepped down for a new set of leaders from the coalition.

A former Senate President, David Mark, was named as the interim national chairman, while a former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, and a former sports and youth minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, were appointed as national secretary and spokesperson, respectively.

However, Mr Kachikwu and a faction of the ADC members, including youth and women leaders, had rejected the new appointments, calling them unconstitutional and lacking proper approval. They condemned the takeover, saying the coalition violated party rules.

The former presidential candidate specifically said Mr Nwosu’s tenure had since expired and had ceased to be the party’s chairman based on a court judgment.

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Despite the opposition, the Forum of ADC State chairpersons backed the coalition and said internal legal issues had been resolved in court.

‘N20 million to vacate office’

However, in a statement he personally signed, Mr Kachikwu alleged that the coalition is offering money to the state party chairpersons to relinquish their positions.

“They (the coalition) are offering some of the state chairmen as much as N20,000,000 to resign their positions, which goes to show that their intentions are not honourable,” he said.

“My question to this gang is this, if you succeed in paying off all the ADC party officials at state and local government levels to resign, what next? Our constitution still doesn’t allow you to assume those offices. This is the plain and simple truth. Your money will get you nowhere in the ADC.”

He described the coalition as a political gang and the members as politicians who cannot survive outside political office.

He accused them of seeking to hijack the party simply to revive their ‘personal economies’.

“They are truly on a rescue mission, but it is a mission to rescue themselves from the harsh economic realities which they themselves created for our nation,” he said.

Mr Kachikwu, who described the coalition as fake, also claimed it is built on fraudulent misrepresentation.

He accused the group of staging events and paying people to say they are decamping from other political parties to the ADC.

Mr Abdullahi, ADC spokesperson, could not be reached for comment as calls to his mobile telephone failed to connect. He also did not respond to a text message sent to him.

READ KACHIKWU’S STATEMENT

THIS IS NOT THE ADC WAY

Dear ADC family and my fellow Nigerians,

I find it necessary to once again address you on the recent events within the ADC but before I get into that let me state the following. I am an Ibo man from Onicha Ugbo in Delta State of Nigeria. I am a full-blooded Nigerian and have the right to aspire to the highest office in the land. The presidency is not and will never be the birth right of one section of this country no matter how much propaganda they spread.

There is a lot of deliberate misinformation going on by these agents of destabilisation masquerading as a political coalition. There is a clear difference between a political coalition and a political gang.

The first has noble ideals while the gang seeks power for personal gains. What we have here today is a gang unable to survive outside political office seeking to hijack the ADC as a means to revive their personal economies. They are truly on a rescue mission, but it is a mission to rescue themselves from the harsh economic realities which they themselves created for our nation.

They accuse me of being a paid spokesperson for President Tinubu and my response is this; it will be an honour to be a spokesperson for the President of the largest black nation on earth but unfortunately that’s not who I am. Political jobbers who have no visible means of livelihood are always eager to tar others, but I remain unfazed.

They, with the active support of their cohorts in the media now say they are the ADC: they are not. I can call myself the President of America till I am blue in the face, but it doesn’t make it so. They are offering some of the state chairmen as much as N20,000,000 to resign their positions which goes to show that their intentions are not honourable.

My question to this gang is this, if you succeed in paying off all the ADC party officials at state and local government levels to resign, what next? Our constitution still doesn’t allow you assume those offices. This is the plain and simple truth. Your money will get you nowhere in the ADC.

If you have to build your rescue mission on fraudulent misrepresentation, it just shows who you really are. The imposter who claims he is their spokesperson made bold to say that I am merely the former presidential candidate of the party and not a party official. His pedestrian argument is that only party officials can challenge party affairs. This is the same elitist ignorance that brought Nigeria to this point where we believe Nigeria is only for the rich and powerful. Bolaji please be informed that every member of our party no matter how poor you people have made them have a say in the ADC.

This fake coalition is staging events in different parts of the country where they pay poor Nigerians to say they are decamping from other parties to the ADC. This is the typical strategy of these old politicians, and we have had enough of it. They need to sing a new song.

READ ALSO: Dele Momodu quits PDP, joins ADC

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a man whose antecedents clearly shows he doesn’t believe anyone from the southern part of Nigeria is deserving of being president of Nigeria orchestrated this charade for his personal benefit. He almost truncated President Obasanjo’s return for a second term because he believed the seat was his. President Jonathan suffered the same fate and then after eight years of late President Buhari as President, the same Atiku believed it was morally right for him to be the presidential flag bearer of the PDP in the last presidential elections.

This was most unjust and unfair and led to the current disintegration of that party. He is now using some charlatans to deceive former governor Peter Obi that only he Atiku has what it takes to win an election because he can get majority of the North to vote for him. This is most uncharitable of him. If the former Vice President says my assertions are not true and that all he wants is a better Nigeria, I then challenge him today to publicly declare that equity demands that the presidency should stay in the South for another six years. He can then support any southern candidate of his choice. He will never do this but if he chooses to continue on this slippery slope, I want to reiterate that the ADC is not for sale and is not an old people’s home. We are a party that believes Nigeria needs fresh faces, fresh ideals and fresh ideas. This current political war is the war of the old for the old; it is not our fight.

In the ADC, Nigeria and Nigerians will always remain our objective. Thank you and God bless.

Dumebi Kachikwu

ADC Presidential Candidate in the 2023 presidential election