Factional Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Nafiu Bala Gombe has said his leadership does not recognise the coalition group led by Senator David Mark, as they lack the requisite locus standi to organise any convention or congress of the party.

This is just as the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise, Hon. Leke Abejide (ADC, Kogi) has described the coalition as party hijackers engaged in illegal political activities.

Both ADC leaders spoke in Abuja on Friday at a joint world press conference. Speaking first, Nafiu Bala Gombe said, “As far as the duly constituted and legitimate leadership of the party is concerned, the coalition group are not a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

“Consequently, they lack the requisite locus standi to convene or conduct any congresses or conventions, and any resolutions or decisions emanating from such gatherings are devoid of legal effect and cannot pass the test of legality.

“A few days ago, a coalition of individuals convened and purported to hold an elective convention in Abuja, despite the clear, binding, and subsisting judgment of the Court of Appeal.

“Any action taken in flagrant disregard of the Court of Appeal’s judgment delivered on 12th March 2026 is not only of questionable legality but is liable to be declared null, void, and of no effect by the Federal High Court upon final determination of the pending suit.

“Furthermore, the noticeable absence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from the convention strongly indicates that the process lacks official recognition and cannot stand judicial scrutiny as to its legitimacy.

“Their conduct is not unexpected, as those individuals have a documented history of contempt for the rule of law, evidenced by the manner in which they purportedly joined the party several months ago in clear violation of the party’s Constitution.

“It is particularly noteworthy that while they were engaged in the said unlawful assembly, their counsel was before the Supreme Court seeking judicial validation of the same congresses and convention, thereby underscoring the illegitimacy of the entire exercise’

In his address, Hon. Leke Abejide dismissed their purported suspension saying David Mark and his group are just party hijackers.

“You can see clearly that the party hijackers have no interest in ADC at heart. They only came to steal, kill and destroy and it is evident in the manner they are doing things with impunity not minding some laws that guide our conduct.

“It is not surprising that these crops of politicians are not progressing and not in a progressive direction, this is evident in the abandoned PDP Secretariat uncompleted despite decades in governance.

“These are politicians who were in PDP hitherto and could not manage a political party, very unfortunate. A group of people who cannot finish just a Secretariat cannot be trusted with national matters’, he stated.

Continuing, Abejide noted “On the purported suspension of me, Rt. Hon Leke Abejide and Hon Nafiu Bala Gombe from ADC, I see it as a laughable phenomenon from an illegal group of people who came to destroy the African Democratic Party in the same way they destroyed all the political parties they exited from.

“First, I am not in politics because of money but for service to humanity, and I have demonstrated this in the last seven (7) years in my Federal Constituency of Yagba. This can be verified as not an abstract thing.

“In Kogi State, I nurtured ADC into recognition, having two (2) House of Representatives Members in the 2023 general elections. I came alone from the state under ADC in 2019 but in 2023 due to my superlative performance both on the floor and at home, many people believed in my leadership and joined me and this spread to the next Federal Constituency close to me Kabba-Bunu/ Ijumu benefitted and ADC. Not only did ADC equally produce State Assembly Members in Kogi State in 2023. One of them was rigged by the Athe PC.

“I equally contested the Gubernatorial election in Kogi State under ADC and the party became known to the whole State. Where were those who claimed to have suspended me from the party that time? They were in PDP describing ADC as a party without Governors to back me. They even said they had thirteen (13) Governors behind them who would help them (PDP people) to win.

“I am not a political merchant running from one party to another party. I have been in ADC since 2017 and never changed party but many of the coalition leaders have moved from PDP to ACN to APC back to PDP to APGA to LABOUR PARTY to NPP to ADC, and so on. Our resistance to resisting them is because of their habitual character of Political use and dumping

“My so-called suspension and that of Hon Nafiu Bala Gombe is contempt of court orders of both the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court and as such I have briefed my Lawyers on possible litigation against their purported suspension for record purposes, which is a visitation of hostility on me while my case is in Court. The principles of Llaw forbid this, in our jurisprudence is called Lis pendis.

“We want to let the party members and the general public know that the Suya Convention that ADC coalition held on 14th April, 2026 at an Event Centre in Abuja is null and void as it is against the law of the land, both the Electoral Act 2026 and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended”.