A presidential aspirant under the African Democratic Congress, Dr Favour Ayodele, has quit the party over its presidential primary.
Recall that the founder of Roots Television, Dumebi Kachikwu, had emerged as the party’s flagbearer defeating Ayodele, former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu and others.
Moghalu has since resigned his membership of the party, faulting the party leadership and the manner in which they handled the electoral process that produced Mr Kachikwu as the winner.
In a statement addressed to the ADC chairman, Chief Ralph Nwosu, on Wednesday, Ayodele also alleged irregularities in the exercise held in Abeokuta.
According to the Chief Executive Director, TheCarpenter Consult, there were some discrepancies displayed by the leadership and organizers of the Presidential primaries.
“I am resigning from the African Democratic Congress, in light of some discrepancies displayed by the leadership and organizers of the Presidential primaries held in Abeokuta, June 8, 2022. In my view, these discrepancies are drastically incongruent with the letter and spirit of the party’s stated values and culture,” he wrote.
“Among other aspirants, leaders and members, I joined ADC purely because of its stated values and culture, which, in principle, sets it apart from the other political parties and naturally should attract a followership of patriotic servant leaders for our nation and continent. Unfortunately, on the contrary, the leadership and organizers did NOT live up to this ideal in their execution of the processes leading to electing the party’s 2023 Presidential candidate.
“To be clear, this is not a critique of the choice of candidate, but of the processes adopted by the organizers of the primaries, vis-à-vis the party’s leadership, as stated below:
” Screening was completed with ALL aspirants given the ‘green light’ for the nomination process.
“Event banners / flyers, program booklet, order of events, and event moderators announced on national television that ALL 12 aspirants were in the run for the candidacy.
” ALL aspirants present were called up to the table as part of the nomination process.
“ALL aspirants were allowed to speak from the podium, EXCEPT TWO – on national television.
“Some aspirants spoke from the podium, who, it is believed did not make payment for the nomination form or expression of intent fees, in line with the party’s policies and values – so it would seem the issue is not
money-related.
“Two of the aspirants, including me, were NOT called up to speak from the podium, although I had followed through with the party’s regulations, attended events, promoted the party at all levels locally and internationally, made financial contributions, traveled the landscape meeting state leaders and coordinators, and had engineered new membership to the party
“In a discussion with the party’s leadership, I had made my intentions clear in a promise to make payment of the “Expression of Intent” and “Nomination form” fees, based on funds I was expecting for the purpose.
“At no time, before the primaries, was I told this was an issue with the organizers and would result in a treatment on national television akin to embarrassment
“Nowhere in ADC’s memorandum of understanding, membership acknowledgement,
constitution, manifesto, website or verbal information is it stated that this is the party’s standard practice to exclude aspirants from its nomination processes – this was purely the machination of individuals who have influence in the party’s decision-making and perhaps hold something against my person, but obviously do NOT care how their personal opinions and actions affect the overall well-being of the party, vis-à-vis the nation
” I made a Press Release, drawing attention to these issues and requesting a response from the party, on June 9, 2022.
“It is now 3 weeks after the party primaries and I still have not heard from or received any communication from the party leadership regarding these issues or the path forward
Nigerians and members of the international community tuned in locally and internationally to watch the process – and to listen to my pitch. Many of them hoped to find a safe space from the shenanigans of the other parties; they hoped ADC would be the future of politics in Nigeria. Needless to say, they were disappointed. Nigeria and Nigerians deserve better than this. I wish you well and pray our beloved nation gets it right, someday, in our lifetime”.
