ADC crisis: Nafi’u Bala declares himself national chairman, boots David Mark

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is once again caught in the political crossfire, but this time, the bullets are coming from within.

On Wednesday night, Nafi’u Bala, a former governorship candidate and ex-national deputy chairman of the ADC, walked into a press conference in Abuja declared himself interim national chairman.

“This is not rebellion,” Bala said, “this is rescue.”

In his address, he accused the David Mark-led faction of hijacking the party’s soul, branding their emergence as a “shameful takeover” executed by outsiders and rubber-stamped by political elites with no business in ADC affairs.

“We will meet them in court,” Bala vowed, slamming the July 2 dissolution of the National Working Committee (NWC) as unconstitutional, fraudulent, and fueled by desperation for 2027 relevance.

The flashpoint began earlier this month when Ralph Nwosu, ADC founder and political godfather, stunned loyalists by dissolving the NWC and anointing a new interim leadership team led by former Senate President David Mark.

That move coincided with an elite political summit where names like Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Nasir el-Rufai, Aminu Tambuwal, and Uche Secondus gathered to adopt the ADC as the coalition platform for the 2027 elections.

“This is political hooliganism dressed up as coalition-building,” he fired. “You don’t hand over a political house to strangers and expect loyalty to thrive.”

He warned that legitimate members, those who’ve built the party from the grassroots were being discarded like yesterday’s flyers, and that “elected mandates cannot be handed over by decree.”

Bala insists his declaration is not a stunt, but a constitutional intervention.

“I’m invoking Article 14.2 of our party constitution,” he told reporters. “And until due process is followed, I am the interim national chairman.”

He’s demanding the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognize him immediately or risk legitimizing what he called “an unprecedented act of impunity.”