The African Democratic Congress (ADC) seems to be in a deep soup as Nafi’u Bala, a former governorship candidate of the party in Gombe State and ex-national deputy chairman on Wednesday night, declared himself the interim national chairman of the party.

Bala called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognize him as the chairman during a press conference in Abuja, Wednesday night.

He accused the David Mark-led faction of the party of illegally hijacking the party’s leadership and violating its constitution as he vowed to challenge the move in court.

Describing the leadership as a shameful political takeover orchestrated by outsiders, Bala alleged that the party’s structures have been unlawfully surrendered to political figures with no ties to the ADC, warning that such actions undermine internal democracy

He said; “We wish to draw the attention of all members of our great party and Nigerians at large, to the ongoing acts of political hooliganism being perpetrated by some individuals who were hitherto entrusted with the leadership of the party.”

This development is coming after the party’s founder and former national chairman, Ralph Nwosu dissolved the national working committee (NWC) and endorsed an interim leadership headed by former Senate President David Mark on July 2nd.

Nwosu’s move was inspired by several opposition leaders including Atiku Abubakar, Uche Secondus, Aminu Tambuwal, Peter Obi, Nasir el-Rufai, and others—adopted the ADC as the coalition platform for the 2027 general elections.

However, in reaction, Bala said the move is a political melodrama and a betrayal of party principles.

According to him, it is out of place for a party leader or group of leaders to arbitrarily transfer elected mandates to non-members.

Bala lamented that legitimate members of the ADC were sidelined in favor of political strangers.

“In the history of democracy all over the world, no party leader or group of leaders has the power to arbitrarily transfer elected mandates or political authority to non-members,” he stated

He further stressed that, based on the guidelines of the ADC’s succession procedure as contained in its constitution, he (Bala) has assumed the role of the interim national chairman of the party.

Therefore, he said; “I call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently recognize me as the legitimate chairman of the African Democratic Congress.”

Bala further assured that legal actions would be taken against the Mark-led leadership if it continued to disregard the party’s constitutional provisions.