(ADC. Photo by daily Post)
A significant internal dispute has broken out within the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Kaduna State, after members of the party’s Primary Election Appeal Committee issued contradictory rulings on the outcome of the governorship primary election.
On one side, the committee’s secretary and a number of its members declared Isa Ashiru as the legitimately elected governorship candidate.
On the other, the committee chairman, Dr. Mustapha Fagge, announced a conflicting verdict recognising Shu’aibu Idris-Mikat as the party’s flagbearer setting the stage for what has become an open and public disagreement within the panel.
Speaking to journalists at the ADC State Secretariat in Kaduna on Tuesday, the Appeal Committee Secretary, Dr. Mikailu Ibrahim Barau, stated that his faction’s decision was based on data gathered by the party’s electoral committee, which pointed to Ashiru as the rightful winner of the primary.
He urged the party’s National Secretariat to dismiss what he referred to as the “Abuja Declaration” an alleged move to replace Ashiru’s name with another candidate’s describing it as procedurally flawed and not reflective of the committee’s collective position.
According to Barau, the chairman’s verdict was reached without the knowledge or participation of the secretary and other committee members, and therefore lacked legitimacy.
He further argued that the power to substitute or confirm a candidate belongs exclusively to the party’s national leadership, not to the chairman of a temporary appeal committee.
Barau called on the National Secretariat to review the committee’s official draft report along with all petitions filed during the appeals process, and recommended that a reconstituted appeal committee be set up to ensure broader consultation and proper procedure.
He appealed for calm among party members, assuring them that internal democratic processes would ultimately prevail and that the personal ambitions of a few individuals would not be allowed to derail the party’s collective interests in the coming elections.
In a separate press briefing, however, committee chairman Dr. Fagge maintained that the panel had reviewed all petitions and evidence submitted by dissatisfied aspirants and had unanimously affirmed Idris-Mikat as the ADC’s governorship candidate, having determined that he received the highest number of valid votes in the primary.
Fagge added that evidence of irregularities and alleged fraudulent conduct linked to some of the other aspirants also influenced the committee’s final ruling.
