…..Fingers INEC officials of complicity in tenure as elongation
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikw, has accused the immediate past Ralph Nwosu-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party of trying to sell off the mandates of its election candidates to another political party despite the expiration of its tenure.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Saturday that was called to debunk his purported suspension from the party by the ex-national leadership, he insisted that the NWC stood dissolved because its tenure had ended with Nwosu serving for 17 unbroken years against the provision of the party’s constitution.
Flanked by Hon. Kingsley Temitope Ogga, Chairman of Chairmen Forum and Kogi State chapter chairman;
Kennedy Odion, Edo State chairman, and Manzo Ibrahim, ex-National Vice Chairman North East, the presidential flag bearer said the party was surprised at a statement made by Nwosu suggesting that he had been suspended.
He disclosed that Nwosu had pleaded initially for his tenure to be extended by one year, saying that when the party turned it down, he requested six months extension, which was also rejected by the ADC.
According to him, the former party boss attempted to hold an illegal Congress to extend his tenure with the connivance of some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but was stopped by the police.
Dumebi further said that the ADC had what he called a dubious record of trading its mandate in the 17 years that Nwosu had been at the helms, which he vowed would not be repeated under his watch.
He said Nwosu had also attempted to substitute his running mate without his knowledge and as well foist a Director General of the presidential campaign on the flag bearer.
Dumebi explained: “To give a background to what has been happening, the tenure of the immediate past NWC expired or elapsed on the 28 of last month (August). Prior to this, the former chairman sought an extension of elongation of his tenure. He had reached me directly and indirectly pleading for us to extend his tenure.
“For those of you who might not know, Chief Ralph Nwosu is the longest serving national chairman of a political party in the history of Nigeria and has held sway as the chairman of the ADC for the past 17 years.
“You must understand that this is contrary to the constitution of the ADC which stipulates that a chairman can only hold office for a maximum of two terms of four years each.
“For some reasons and for reasons best known to INEC, we don’t know how Nwosu was able to hold on to that position for the last 17 years.”
While noting that he had promised to uphold the constitution of the party as its presidential candidate, Dumebi stated: “My party, the ADC has been known in the past to have a dubious distinction as the party that traded the mandate of its candidates.
“In recent memory, we can remember the late (Dr Obadaiah) Mailafia, who was the last presidential candidate of the party and what happened to him when on Election Day, the party chose to support another party having traded his mandate.
“We saw that happen in so many elections where the party always traded its candidates and I have made it clear to them that under my watch as the presidential candidate of this party, my mandate is not negotiable and the mandate of any candidate in the party will not be negotiated.”
A statement issued on Friday by the
Deputy National Chairman (Politics) in the immediate past NWC, Dr Bamidele Ajadi, had announced the suspension of Dumebi accusing him of making a false, misguided and defamatory video.
