Crisis rocks ADC in Borno as police seals party secretariat 

As the 2027 elections approach, political gladiators have begun forming coalitions, aligning, and defecting, with a view to building stronger arms and more convincing teams.

At the national and state levels, the newest coalition in town seems to have received many disgruntled politicians from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Labour Party (LP), the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), and the Obidient Movement in the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Surprisingly, in the southern part of Borno State, the ADC seems to be gaining popularity and becoming more potent than ever before. At the same time, the People’s Democratic Party, which has suffered due to its unending crisis, is less popular than ever.

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Unfortunately, in the formative stage, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Borno State is witnessing an intra-party crisis over the leadership of the interim management committee set up by the party’s national secretariat to oversee its affairs before the election of substantive executive council members.

Violence erupted at the inauguration of the interim committee at a destination in Maiduguri metropolis last Monday, when the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Kaka Umara Bolori, denounced the committee.

He reportedly, along with his followers, protested against the composition of the committee, saying that he would not legitimise the interim committee led by Alhaji Ali Bukar Wurge.

This protest turned violent, with about eleven party men and security agents sustaining wounds.

According to the interim committee chairman, the inauguration of the state’s Transitional Committee and Membership Registration Committees, with Mallam Kashim Imam as their chairman, was fully authorised by the party’s National Working Committee.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party described the actions of individuals who disrupted the exercise as inconsistent with ADC values and called on the Nigeria Police and other security agencies to act professionally and impartially to investigate the reported violent attacks on ADC members, and ensure that all perpetrators are brought to justice.

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“This was na ot protest; it was orchestrated violence against the democratic order,” the Borno State chairman of the interim national committee, Alhaji Ali Wurge, fumed while denouncing the reported Bolori-led violence at a news conference in Maiduguri, Friday, January 16.

He recalled that thugs allegedly carrying out the orders of an alleged political despot “descended upon a legitimate party function with barbaric savagery, destroying eight vehicles belonging to our members and vandalising a police vehicle, an assault on the very symbol of state authority.”

Wurge commiserated with the wounded party men and policemen, stating, “Your sacrifice will never be forgotten. Your wounds are our wounds.”

He described the committee’s legitimacy as ironclad, established in full conformity with the ADC constitution and election guidelines, ratified by what he described as the supreme authority of the party’s national working committee.

Police seal ADC party office in Borno

Business Day gathered that a few hours after the press briefing, operatives of the Borno State Police Command sealed the premises of the All Democratic Congress party secretariat in Maiduguri, the state capital, on Friday.

Business Day gathered that the office was sealed up on Friday shortly after the Transition Management Committee of the party held a press conference.

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Efforts to ascertain the cause of the sealing proved abortive as several calls put across to the Spokesperson of the Borno state police command, Nahum Daso, were unsuccessful

But an insider source claimed that the operatives stormed the building and whisked away some officials, which was described as a victimisation and politicking taken too far by some desperate politicians in the state.

He said, “We are not perturbed with all the gimmicks played by the police; they are using them to cause confusion in our party, but I can tell you that all their plan will fail. The ruling party in the state is not comfortable with the trajectory of the state’s popularity among the masses. They are afraid, and that’s why they hide to plant seeds of discord in the ADC party.” Party insider alleged.