UPDATED: Finally, ADC gets venue for convention

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has secured a new venue for its national convention after the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) authorities allegedly denied it use of Eagle Square and the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, both in Abuja, for the event.

Kola Ologbondiyan, chairman of the National Convention Media and Publicity Sub-committee, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview on Monday that the convention slated for Tuesday will now hold at Rainbow Event Centre in the federal capital.

The party had raised concerns about its difficulty getting a venue for its national convention, accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government of sabotaging its efforts.

Mr Ologondiyan said the party has not received any response from the FCT on its request to use either the Eagle Square or the Moshood Abiola National Stadium for the convention.

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But the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, said on Monday that he had not received any application for anyone to use the venues and had not denied anyone.

“As we speak, no formal application has been submitted to my office or any relevant authority to use Eagle Square,” Mr Wike said while inspecting projects in the capital city.

“Who denied them? I am not aware of any such development, and I don’t even know which party you are referring to. If it is the African Democratic Congress, such claims are their usual attempt to gain public sympathy.”

Social media users had accused the Transcorp Hilton Hotel of denying the ADC access to use its venue for the convention at the prompting of the APC-led government. The hotel denied it, describing it as “inaccurate, malicious, and entirely fabricated”.

Transcorp Hilton explained that no booking was made with the hotel at any point and that no slot was available to accommodate the request when it was enquired.

“An inquiry was made on Easter Monday, but there was no availability to accommodate the request. Consequently, no booking was made at any point. We therefore reaffirm that there was no cancellation, contrary to what is being purported. The narrative currently being circulated is inaccurate, malicious, and entirely fabricated. We urge the public to disregard this false information,” the hotel said.

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The ADC is going ahead with the convention despite the objection of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which said it wouldn’t monitor or observe the convention as a result of an order of the Court of Appeal.

INEC had suspended the recognition of any leadership of the party after the court ordered that all parties in a suit challenging the current leadership of the party maintain the status quo ante bellum and to avoid doing anything that could jeopardise the outcome of the suit.

But the ADC accused INEC of deliberately misinterpreting the court order to suspend the recognition of the party leaders.

Meanwhile, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bola Abdullahi, said over 3,000 delegates are expected to attend the convention from across the country.