A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has taken a swipe at a former presidential candidate of the party, Dumebi Kachikwu, over a recent threat to take legal action against members of a coalition that just joined the party.
Kachikwu, the ADC presidential candidate in the 2023 election, came in a distant fifth in the poll with 81,919 total votes.
He (Kachikwu) had accused the David Mark-led opposition coalition a few days ago of a forceful takeover of the party and threatened to seek legal action against the new leadership of the party.
Former ADC Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, recently announced the formal handover of the party leadership to former Senate President David Mark, along with former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, as interim National Chairman and Secretary of the party, respectively.
But in a swift response to Kachikwu’s threat, Abdullahi Umar, a party chieftain from Kano, faulted what he described as an empty threat, insisting that Kachikwu was only suffering from a symptom of frustration.
Addressing journalists in Kano, the former House of Representatives aspirant for Tarauni federal constituency said he found Kachikwu’s threat laughable and mind-boggling, how a mere inconsequential former presidential candidate would lay claim to being a stakeholder.
“If I may ask, which stake is Mr Kachikwu talking about? He neither belongs to the National Working Committee, NWC, nor the National Executive Committee, NEC. Therefore, his threat of legal action against our party, the ADC, is baseless and a smirk of contempt for democratic norms.
“He (Kachikwu) didn’t embark on a nationwide campaign, nor did he consult widely as a serious contender. He was just a pretender, doing the bidding of his paymasters, the APC.
“He was never part of the founding members of the ADC, so the whole talk about him being a stakeholder is nothing but a ruse. An African adage opines that he who desires a mat should first own a part of the land to lay the mat.
“Mr Kachikwu should have joined other Presidential candidates to own the ADC land, and perhaps, his mat will be considered to have a place to lie.”
He continued, “Even during the last presidential election, Mr Kachikwu, we learnt, was allegedly in contact with the APC, to jeopardise the process. He is a political jobber without electoral value whatsoever. If you would recall, he had a running battle with the leadership of the ADC in the run-up to the election. Therefore, he is not a partyman.”
He further said, “It is clear that the APC is jittery. Nigerians have finally gotten a platform to challenge and replace the APC, which has caused a lot of excruciating pain to them. So, if Mr Kachikwu thinks he will be a stooge or a mole for the APC to destabilise the ADC, like they did in LP and PDP, he should have a rethink. Because the
ADC has come to stay, as the face of real and purposeful opposition, which would transform and build a country of our dreams.”
Abdullahi called on Nigerians to be vigilant and wary of political jobbers like Mr Kachikwu.
