{"id":197201,"date":"2026-03-20T19:43:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack"},"modified":"2026-03-20T20:52:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:52:37","slug":"crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack","title":{"rendered":"Crisis Brews in ADC as Faction Petitions US Over Hijack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A new leadership crisis is brewing in the African Democratic Congress, ADC, as a faction of the party has formally filed a petition with the United States embassy in Abuja, accusing some members of trying to take control of the party and undermine internal democratic processes.<\/p>\n<p>The faction led by Nafiu Bala Gombe is asking the US to consider imposing sanctions, including visa restrictions, on individuals allegedly involved in the unconstitutional takeover of the party\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n<p>In a formal complaint sent to the embassy, Gombe, who says he is the real leader of the party, claimed that some unnamed politicians broke the party\u2019s rules and didn\u2019t follow the proper steps.<\/p>\n<p>Gombe stated that the incident occurred after the resignation of the party\u2019s former National Chairman, Ralph Okey Nwosu, along with other members of the National Working Committee, NWC.<\/p>\n<p>Gombe stated in the petition, \u201cI am writing to you in my capacity as the Authentic National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC. I want to highlight a serious issue within our party that we think is putting the democratic process and the rule of law in Nigeria at risk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a symbol of democracy and a guardian of constitutional processes around the world, we are asking the Embassy to recognize the situation and take action against the undemocratic takeover of our party.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur complaint stems from the evident breach of the ADC Constitution due to the voluntary resignations of our former National Chairman, Mr. Ralph Okey Nwosu and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the National Chairman position becomes empty, the Deputy National Chairman must take over to keep things running smoothly. Following the resignations, I, Hon. Nafiu Bala, remained the sole and only National Deputy Chairman who did not resign. So, by law and following the proper steps, it was my duty as a leader to take charge of the party\u2019s matters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTherefore, by constitutional right and due process, the mantle of leadership fell on me to steer the affairs of the party.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, our rightful journey toward leadership has been blocked by outside political forces, including power seekers from different political parties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese people are trying to take control of the ADC and become leaders without following our party\u2019s rules or proper procedures. We have taken our case to court to fight for justice and show that we are following our party\u2019s rules, but our opponents have used propaganda instead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are falsely claiming that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is supporting and using the courts to suppress their ambitions. To be clear and to make sure there\u2019s no confusion, we want to say directly that we have no connection, relationship, or link with President Tinubu or his political party, the All Progressives Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the petition, Gombe asked the United States to pay attention to what he called \u201canti-democratic practices\u201d inside the party.<\/p>\n<p>He mentioned that the petition is meant to protect democratic practices within the party and ensure that the law is followed properly in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cWe respectfully request that should these undemocratic elements succeed in seizing our party leadership through unconstitutional means, the United States should consider imposing sanctions against them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe specifically ask for the removal or rejection of any special rights, like visas or diplomatic treatment, that are usually given to real democrats and democratic leaders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuch actions would show clearly that the international community will not accept undermining the party\u2019s internal democracy and the country\u2019s constitutional procedures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe appreciate your ongoing support in encouraging and nurturing younger democracies to establish good governance worldwide. We hope you will take our appeal seriously and act quickly, as it is important for fairness and the future of democracy in Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. A new leadership crisis is brewing in the African Democratic Congress, ADC, as a faction of the party has formally filed a petition with the United States embassy in Abuja, accusing some members of trying to take control of the party and undermine internal democratic processes. The faction led by Nafiu Bala [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":197200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-197201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Crisis Brews in ADC as Faction Petitions US Over Hijack - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new leadership crisis is brewing in the African Democratic Congress, ADC, as a faction of the party has formally filed ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crisis Brews in ADC as Faction Petitions US Over Hijack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new leadership crisis is brewing in the African Democratic Congress, ADC, as a faction of the party has formally filed ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-20T18:43:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-20T19:52:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/sm_1774036314.4093.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"514\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Crisis Brews in ADC as Faction Petitions US Over Hijack\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-20T18:43:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-20T19:52:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack\"},\"wordCount\":651,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/sm_1774036314.4093.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/crisis-brews-in-adc-as-faction-petitions-us-over-hijack\",\"name\":\"Crisis Brews in ADC as Faction Petitions US Over Hijack - 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