May 03, (THEWILL) — Many leaders of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and its supporters rejoiced aloud at the Thursday, April 30, 2026 Supreme Court ruling that knocked down the ‘status quo ante bellum,’ order of the Appeal Court, which the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, relied upon to derecognise the David Mark-led National Working Committee, NWC. Indeed, the electoral umpire’s immediate restoration of the party’s NWC on its website after the court judgement, ignited celebration.
The jubilation within the party reached a crescendo when one of the litigants against the party leadership, Leke Abejide, resigned from the ADC, citing the prolonged leadership crisis rocking the opposition party and concerns over his political future.
Abejide, a two-term member of the House of Representatives elected on the ADC platform, representing Yagba East/Yagba West/Mopamuro Federal Constituency of Kogi State announced his resignation during a press conference in Abuja on Friday, describing the decision as difficult but unavoidable. His resignation came amid intensifying internal disputes within the ADC following the recent court rulings and the reinstatement of the David Mark-led leadership structure by the INEC.
The crisis has pitched rival factions against one another, with party stakeholders divided over the legitimate national leadership of the party ahead of the 2027 general election. The ADC crisis deepened after conflicting interpretations of court judgments triggered competing claims to the party’s leadership, eventually leading to INEC’s restoration of the Mark-led leadership on its official portal. Abejide had also approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the legitimacy of the leadership arrangement and to seek judicial intervention against what he described as an unlawful takeover of the party.
At Friday’s press conference, the lawmaker revealed that his lawyers advised him to leave the party entirely due to uncertainties surrounding the party’s structure and possible complications regarding future political nominations. He immediately defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, and obtained its nomination form for the House of Representatives.
THE OBI/KWANKWASO REACTION
Amid the celebration in the party following the apex court ruling, one group in the party that is responding differently to the tide of events in the ADC is the Obidient and Kwankwasiyya Movements.
Since Kwankwaso defected from the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, to the ADC, recently, members of the Obidient Movement and their Kwankwasiyya counterparts have bonded under a common front popularly known as OK, an acronym for Obi-Kwankwaso presidential candidacy.
Following the developments in the party on the heels of the apex court judgement, the leadership and members of both groups began to have second thoughts. On Friday, Hon. Kabiru Adamu Abdullahi, a loyalist of the Kwankwassiya Movement’s leader, resigned from the party in Dala Local Government Area of Kano State. In a resignation letter dated May 1, 2026 and addressed to the party chairman in Kofar Ruwa Ward, Abdullahi said he was leaving the party with immediate effect.
“I hereby formally resign my membership of All Democratic Congress (ADC) at Kofar Ruwa Ward with immediate effect. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity given to me to be part of the party and wish you and the party the very best in your future endeavours. Kindly accept this as my official notice and communicate the same to the appropriate authorities,” he said in the statement he shared on Facebook. He said he acted on the directive of the former Kano governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
“This is the order of Jagora,” he wrote on his FaceBook wall, using the alias members commonly used to refer to their leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. In the Obidient Movement camp, similar things were happening. As on Saturday, they were waiting for a directive from Obi, THEWILL gathered.
The National Coordinator of the group, Dr. Tanko Yinusa, in an interview with this newspaper, said “the Supreme Court ruling is a trap and we cannot fall for it.”
According to him, the possible stretch of litigation up to the Supreme Court again has made the ADC a difficult platform for his principal, even as he cautioned that “only his Excellency Peter Obi can determine the next step.” A statement he repeated when told about the earlier rumoured movement of the Obi/Kwankwaso team to the NDC.
“The Supreme Court judgement has put us in a difficult situation. It referred the party to the Federal High Court and what time do we have? Then after the High Court ruling, there will be Appeal and back to the Supreme Court. It is a trap we cannot afford, it is a cumbersome and unrealistic process and we may find it hard to move out.” When he was reminded of an additional advantage for the party because of the likely nullity of the suit by Abejide, a litigant against the party who resigned on Friday, Yinusa still maintained his stand.
“His leaving does not mean the court will not still make a pronouncement on the suit. Apart from that, the party has many cases in court. Can the cases be finished within 11 days? It is impossible in Nigeria. This is a booby trap,” he said, adding, “Only Obi can make the final decision on this matter.”
Lending credence to the developments, the NDC Deputy Publicity Secretary, Abdulmumin Abdulsalam, told a major national newspaper that discussions involving Obi and former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had been ongoing with its National Leader, Senator Seriake Dickson long before the court ruling.
He said, “Well, the most I can tell you is that they have been interfacing with our leader for quite some time. Also, do not forget that there is a possibility of an alliance that has been under discussion for quite some time.
“So, with the legal twist we are witnessing now, the legal uncertainties, I think there might be some credence to that. However, I cannot categorically confirm to you that it is true, but you should know that, to a very large extent, there is a possibility of it happening.
“Obi is most welcome in the party, not just him, even Kwankwaso too. They have discussed with our national leaders, so you should just watch out.
“We received their names about a month ago from the ADC. We are willing to give them the presidential ticket. We are willing to, you know—only Providence, except if Providence decides otherwise, we are willing, and they will join us.”
Spokesperson of the Kwankwasiyya movement, Habibu Mohammed made additional disclosure at the weekend. He told a major online publication that the decision to defect to the NDC was taken by the stakeholders with the full endorsement of their principal, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso. According to Mohammed, the decision will be formalised next week following an unanimous endorsement by key stakeholders.
“The stakeholders have unanimously given him the go-ahead to move to the NDC. I believe [Kwankwaso, Peter Obi and some others will be joining the NDC,” he said.
He confirmed that Kwankwaso, alongside the former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi and other political heavyweights, are expected to join the NDC on Monday or Tuesday, this week.
He said that Kwankwaso is currently in Kano and is expected back in Abuja by Sunday, ahead of the planned defection. Contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi told THEWILL that the party was unaware of any such happenings.
“Well, they have not officially told the party that they are leaving. As far as we are concerned, such things are in the realm of conjecture and rumour.”
ADC REASSURES MEMBERS
THEWILL however gathered that chieftains of the party are still prevailing on Obi not to commit what sources described as “political suicide,” by thinking, not to talk of, consummating a plan to pull out of the party alongside Kwankwaso, whose real game plan is the 2031 presidency. “Obi’s standing within the party is very strong vis-à-vis other presidential aspirants. Why the stories of his possible exit are circulating in the first place is surprising,” the source said. Apart from the litigation involving the party, the timeline by INEC for political parties to conclude their primaries, April 23 to May 30, 2026, is said to have decided Obi on his decision.
Other sources confided in THEWILL that after INEC restored the Mark led NWC on its website following the Supreme Court ruling, there were expectations that party leaders would stand together and support the party to pursue the remaining suits with clarity and confidence. All of the suits deal with the leadership of the party.
According to the source, the party is relying on Section 83 of the Electoral Act 2026 that ousted the court from entertaining matters that are strictly within the purview of the party. On this, the source argued, the party maintains that the court must follow what the law says. That is why the Mark exco went to the Appeal Court to challenge the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, FHC.
The second important suit deals with tenure of elected Chairmen of the party, which Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the FHC, Abuja, ruled recently, barring INEC from recognising or participating in the state congresses organised by the disputed leadership of ADC since the tenure of the chairman has not elapsed. The source argued that the public was being misled to believe a different narrative, arguing that party scribe, Malam Abdullahi recently issued a statement stating that no new chairman would be sworn into office until the tenure of the incumbent chairmen elapses on May 19, 2026.
He said, “The announcement was also made during the National Convention of the party. The truth of the matter is that only about six chairmen out of 37, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, were suspended by the NWC for acting in a manner that brought the party to disrepute. So, the impression that the party claimed the chairman’s tenure had elapsed is not true. The other suit seeking to deregister ADC is very weak; the litigants lack locus. In any case, no one can say the party has no representation as the litigants are arguing. Senators, House of Representatives members and members of State Assemblies have defected to the party recently, so the matter of representation does not arise. We are forging ahead with our primary”
THE ATIKU ABUBAKAR FACTOR
THEWILL gathered that the fear of losing in the primary to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has played a major role in the decision of Obi and Kwankwaso to pull out of the party. The duo is said to have persuaded Atiku to step down without success.
According to a leader in the Obedient Movement who confided in THEWILL, there is a very strong PDP tendency linked to Abubakar in the ADC. The main reason is because the former Vice President joined the party at its early stage before his rivals and funded many of its activities, such as registration and the conduct of congresses.
The sources said, “Statistically, registered ADC members are more than likely to be Atiku supporters with a higher percentage from the North. To take a few examples, the registered members from Adamawa State alone is about 300,000, more than the total number of all the members in the South put together. Lagos has about 7,000 member, Rivers State about 10,000, Edo State, 9,000, Oyo about 2,000 and Bayelsa, 1,000. Even the registration in these states in the South were funded by him. When the OK movement started in the ADC to support the Obi and Kwankwaso alliance, a European based group, Nigeria Network Alliance, offered some encouragement through the donation of social media space for mobilisation. But Atiku still holds his ground. So, without spending money, Atiku is likely to win at the primary based on the information I have just shared with you.”.
THE RUMOUR THAT BECAME REALITY
The rumoured exit of the duo took an intervention to give credence to it. During the interval when the Supreme Court judgement was been eagerly awaited by the leaders, the member and the supporters of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, forcing the party to write the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, seeking timely delivery of apex reserved judgement, the rumour circulated widely: an unverified X account of the new Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, posted statements and updates claiming that the party “was offering its presidential ticket to Peter Obi, 2023 presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP and Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano, ahead of the 2027 general election.” It was a rumour, carried on Monday, April 27, 3036, three days to the expected Supreme Court judgement on Thursday, April 30, 2026.
And Senator Seriake Dickson, founder of the party, said so in a disclaimer. The X account, @NDCNigNews that spread the rumour which had “generated widespread media attention,” was fake.
Seriake Dickson, founder and national leader of the NDC, who signed the statement, said the party appreciates the continued support and confidence of Nigerians but moved to set the record straight.
“For the avoidance of doubt, all official communications of the party are released only through our verified and recognised platforms, as well as through duly authorized officials of the party,” Senator Dickson said in a signed statement, adding that, “Our official channels on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are: @nigeriandchq. Our official website is also available for authentic information.”
The party urged members of the public, the media, and all stakeholders “to disregard statements from unofficial accounts and to verify all information through our recognized communication channels”.
A day after the disclaimer, reality set in. Despite the respite from the Supreme Court, Obi/Kwankwaso appeared to have got their minds made up. The question now is when will the duo make their final break with the party and go their ways?.
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
