From Romanus Ugwu and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said it will immediately commence the building of its structures and embark on membership drive, following the recognition of its interim leadership by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC).
The ADC interim national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, who spoke in a telephone interview with Daily Sun, thanked the electoral body for choosing to stand “on the right side of history.”
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INEC, yesterday, validated the change in the national leadership of the party confirming former Senate president, David Mark, as the national chairman of the coalition opposition party.
The other members of the party’s national officers, according to the official website of the commission, include former Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Mani Ibrahim Ahmad, Akibu Dalhatu as the national secretary, national treasurer and national financial secretary respectively.
Only last month, the electoral umpire, while denying the ADC leadership recognition, claimed that they are yet to provide it with the report of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that ratified its emergence.
The commission also disclosed that the non-submission of Mark and Aregbesola’s specimen signatures was what is holding up their recognition, noting that former ADC National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, is still relating with it in official correspondences after the party had notified it that there was a change of leadership.
However, perhaps, bowing to pressures, the electoral umpire reflected the change in the leadership of the coalition opposition party on its official website.
Responding to inquiry from Daily Sun, Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the commission’s Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, in a compact message on WhatsApp, noted: “Yes, I can validate the charge in the national officers of the ADC. The change has now been effected.”
Bolaji noted that with the recognition of the party’s leadership, the ADC will focus its attention on some other key issues, and “ move forward more deliberately.”
“It means we can turn our attention to other things. All membership registration and recruitment that we need to do. All the structures of our party that will need to build across the country, we can now turn our attention to that.
“You will agree with me that members have been apprehensive in the last couple of weeks, because of the uncertainty created by this situation. But now that it has been resolved, it now means that people will be more confident . So we are delighted. We express our gratitude to INEC for standing on the right side of history. You will see that we can now embark on membership drive. We will now begin to mobilize our members and build our structures across the country.”
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