The Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress, (ADC), in the 2023 elections, Dumebi Kachikwu has stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission was “irresponsible” to recognise the leadership of former Senator David Mark as the party’s national Chairman.
He made the statement on Thursday while the Politics Today programme aired on Channels Television.
DECENCY GLOBAL NEWS reports that INEC had on Wednesday officially recognised David Mark as the party’s National Chairman, with Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as the National Secretary, and Dr. Ibrahim Mani as National Treasurer, among others.
Kachikwu, however, argued that the new leadership was on “borrowed time”, noting that the recognition given by the outgoing INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, was irresponsible.
“Nigerians as a whole know that the David Mark-led faction of the ADC is on borrowed time. What we saw from the INEC chairman yesterday was another irresponsible act from the outgoing chairman of INEC.
“It is a norm that when you have cases that are in court, you respect those cases that are in court, and you shouldn’t do anything that will affect the outcomes of those cases. The courts are sitting on our matter with David Mark and co next month, and Nigerians will see the rulings after the courts sit,” he stated.
The former presidential candidate also stated that he didn’t believe that the coalition had anything new to offer Nigerians, as all of the coalition members were former government officials who failed to provide good leadership during their time in office.
“If they (coalition) had leadership that we could look to and say these guys did well for Nigeria, Nigerians today would not be complaining.
“Nigerians today will not be saying that this country is a failed nation, but the reason why they are saying that Nigeria is a failed nation is because these guys all failed,” he said.
“So, what are they trying to do? Which nation are they trying to rebuild? Nation that they destroyed? Absolutely not! These guys are people who cannot stay outside of political office, who don’t have anything that they do for a living, and the only thing they need to do is to come back to political office so that they can start feathering their nest again and taking care of their friends and family,” he added.
Asked whether he would join forces with the ADC led by Mark to reform the party, and present a strong opposition at the 2027 polls, Kachikwu said, “Are you saying that my generation, your generation, the generation after us, don’t have anything worthwhile to offer in service to the fatherland? I believe we have Nigerians who have got what it takes to save this country.”
