The crisis currently engulfing the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has been traced by Senator Abbo to a broken agreement that followed a leadership takeover in July 2025, but subsequent court orders and the intervention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have since added legal dimensions to the dispute.
According to Senator Abbo, the trouble began after Nafiu Bala from Gombe State resigned as Deputy National Chairman alongside the entire National Working Committee to allow a new leadership, headed by former Senate President David Mark, to take over the party.
The handover took place at the Yar’Adua Conference Centre in Abuja. An agreement was reached that certain positions would be ceded to the legacy party from each geopolitical zone. In the Northeast, it was agreed that Bala would be appointed National Vice Chairman, a lesser role than his previous position as Deputy National Chairman.
But here is where things fell apart.
However, Senator Abbo alleged that when the new David Mark-led NWC was formed, the leadership reneged on the agreement. Babachir David Lawal was installed as National Vice Chairman for the Northeast instead of Bala.
Abbo quoted Lawal as questioning how Bala, described as a “small boy,” could occupy that position in a zone that has produced a former Vice President and a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Bala was offered the position of Zonal Financial Secretary, which he rejected. Senator Abbo states that from that point, Bala began plotting to bring down the party’s leadership.
Senator Abbo further alleged that Bala and a retired Department of State Services (DSS) officer from Adamawa State reached out to contacts in the Presidential Villa to help destabilize the ADC.
He also claimed that a serving governor from the Southeast and a former minister from the Northwest, before he was removed, hired lawyers to take the case to court. According to Abbo, the current actions by INEC against the ADC were engineered by a powerful minister from the South-South with support from others.
He added that several individuals inside the Villa are now claiming responsibility for the ADC crisis to curry favour with the President. Abbo refrained from mentioning names but stated that those names would one day be captured in a chapter of his autobiography.
Meanwhile, legal developments have added a layer of complexity to the dispute. The Court of Appeal recently issued a directive ordering all parties to maintain status quo ante bellum, meaning the situation as it existed before the leadership change.
Legal practitioners have interpreted this to mean that the ADC must revert to its state before Ralph Nwosu resigned as National Chairman and before any handover to Senator David Mark took place. This ruling has effectively frozen actions by any faction of the party.
Following the court order, INEC announced that it cannot recognise any faction of the ADC or participate in its congresses and conventions until the High Court delivers a final judgment.
INEC Chairman Professor Amupitan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a teacher of law, has maintained that the Commission is bound by the court’s directive and cannot act outside its provisions.
The ADC constitution also presents potential obstacles to the leadership change that occurred in July 2025. The party’s constitution requires financial membership for at least one year before any person can assume leadership. It is unclear whether Senator David Mark and members of his group had fulfilled this requirement at the time of the handover.
More to it is that, the constitution provides that when the National Chairman vacates office, the Deputy National Chairman is to take over. Nafiu Bala has maintained that he never resigned, claiming that the resignation letter dated May 18, 2025, was forged.
He has also stated that all his official communications were conducted on the official letterhead of his office, not on plain paper. Bala has insisted that the constitution is clear on the line of succession.
Further complicating the matter, reports indicate that nineteen days after resigning as National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu was reportedly called back to write to INEC claiming that Bala had resigned back in May. This occurred after Nwosu had already handed over to Senator David Mark. The timing and circumstances of that communication have become a subject of dispute between the factions.
Senator Abbo has made a comparison between the ADC and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He noted that the current serving Vice President of Nigeria is from the Northeast, along with the National Security Adviser from Adamawa State and several powerful ministers. Yet, he said, the APC made a youth the National Vice Chairman for the Northeast. In contrast, he argued, the ADC deemed young people as “small boys” unfit to lead. He stated that Nafiu Bala felt belittled and insulted by Babachir David Lawal, and that Bala has now belittled all of them in return.
Senator Abbo has called on Nafiu Bala to withdraw the court case and be part of history for good, since he has already proven his point. He has also called on INEC to rescind what he describes as its “APC agenda,” warning that Professor Amupitan will be worse than former INEC Chairman Maurice Iwu if the Commission does not change course.
Abbo has announced that he will address the public live at 2pm Easter Sunday to discuss the illegality of INEC’s actions against the ADC and the crisis affecting the Adamawa State chapter of the party, which he said is engineered by the same people responsible for the Nafiu Bala conundrum. The High Court has not yet delivered a final judgment on the matter, and until it does, INEC has stated that it will not recognise any faction or participate in any ADC congress or convention.
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