Dumebi Kachikwu, the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has thrown more light on the controversial court ruling that led to the reinstatement of the David Mark-led executive as the national leadership of the party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), news.ng reports.
Kachikwu, who appeared on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday, explained that despite the fact that INEC reinstated the Mark-led executive at the national level, it did not affect the position of the party’s state chairmen, whom he claimed the party’s constitution empowered to conduct congresses and conventions.
He further explained that INEC recognised the Mark-led executive on its portal because of an error the commission made due to the Nafu Bala faction in the ongoing case filed in court against the executive.
He said: “I think the mistake lots of the media journalists are making when they say when they check the INEC website and that what they see there is the David Markle-led group. I think what you should do is actually look deeper.
“If you go to the INEC website and check all the states and all the different state chapters and see who the chairmen are in those state chapters, those are the chairmen who are with me and those are the chairmen who conducted the convention. We held our congresses last week and those people we emerged during our congresses for the new state chairman, INEC has uploaded them as the valid state chairman of the party because the court order that came about two, three weeks ago was very, very clear that the party is rightly vested in the state chairman. The court order also made clear that only the state chairman will conduct congresses and a convention, which is what we did yesterday.
“INEC in having David Markle and Co. on their portal is just because of the other case that is going on concerning the Nafu Bala faction and David Markle-led faction and because INEC had made the mistake at the initial to say because of the court order they removed them. So when there was a court order that says you don’t have to do that, they then put them there.”
He further clarified that the party had acted on the court’s order by conducting congresses and a convention, stating that if INEC does not act after the conduct of the two exercises, the party will take action against the commission.
He noted: “But there’s a court order that makes clear that the state chairman should conduct congresses, which is what they’ve done. They should conduct a convention, which is what they’ve done. In the event that after the convention that we’ve conducted because they heeded to our congresses and they uploaded those we emerged.
“So, after this convention if INEC does not then upload those who we emerged on their portal then we’ll go to court and get their next chairman charged for contempt of court. It’s very simple. So that will lead the people right.”
When asked about the position of the court, Kachikwu, who was also the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, referred to the court ruling that the party should obey its constitution, which empowered the state chairmen to conduct congresses and conventions.
“So, we don’t say what the court did not say. The court clearly stated that only the state chairman could conduct congresses and that only the state chairman will also conduct a convention. That’s the order of the court. It’s very very clear.
“The order of the court is very clear. It’s about the constitution of our party and that is what the court relied on to make that order. In our party’s constitution, it’s the state chapters that have the right to conduct those congresses and not the national.”
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