THE National Chairman of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Ralphs Nwosu, said the party was not bothered by the planned defection of a member of the House of Representative, Leke Abejide from Kogi State, to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Recall that Abejide said on Monday, July 29, at a news conference in Abuja, that he would move to the APC if the crisis in the ADC persisted.
His colleague, Salman Idris, representing Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency of Kogi State, also defected to the APC on July 24 at plenary.
But Nwosu said in a statement on Wednesday, July 31, in Abuja: “On the defection or defections to APC from our party, we have been inundated with calls from party chieftains, concerned citizens, patriots, national leaders and civil society organisations.
“We appreciate their concerns and commend their patriotism.
“I wish to assure them all that, as a disciplined organisation with a transformational leadership philosophy, we are taking appropriate steps to maintain the integrity of our great party, the ADC.”
He said the party had set up a committee, led by the Deputy National Chairman (Politics), Dr. Bamidele Ajadi, to look into the defections to enable the party to apply the law justly.
“To deepen ADC’s grassroots penetration and engagements, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of our great party resolved to participate roundly in all local council elections,” based on the Supreme Court ruling on the financial autonomy of the local governments.
Nwosu disclosed that the party had set up the local council elections committee to schedule, strategise and supervise all council elections in all the states of the country, appealling to all stakeholders at the sub-national level, especially governors, to ensure that all democratic processes were conducted in an atmosphere of impartiality.
“The NWC will like to make it abundantly clear that one Shola Samuel, aka GADAFI, who has been parading himself as a BoT member of our party, ADC, is not a member of the party,” he stated, recalling that he had been using the designation to call meetings in Kogi, even though he was not a registered member of ADC, let alone a BoT member.
