Former Governor of Kano State, and ADC chieftain, Senator Kabiru Gaya, has expressed confidence that members of the African Democratic Congress remain united and committed to strengthening the party and driving its success.
He said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday.
“The members of the party are totally committed to ensure the party becomes successful. So with this kind of commitment, I believe we have hope. I believe we can be able to be successful and we can be able to fight any other obstacle coming up by the party,” he said.
Speaking on the expulsion of some members of the ADC, Senator Gaya said the decision was taken in line with party rules and duly ratified at the convention, insisting that due process was followed and legal advice guided the actions.
“I’m not a lawyer, but I’m an experienced politician. And why we went ahead and dismissed or expelled these members was because, by law, you should not take your party to a court, by most of the parties’ constitutions. If you take the party to court, it means you are no longer a member of that party. And that’s why they had to move a motion in the convention. They didn’t just dismiss them anyhow; it was ratified by a convention. And it’s not easy when things are done and ratified by the convention—that’s the right thing. So the party went ahead and expelled them. And what we did there was all legal. Our lawyers were watching us; our lawyers were guiding us,” he insisted.
He noted that the influx of prominent political figures and supporters into the ADC demonstrates the party’s expanding appeal.
“And even the faction of PDP are joining us! So that is why a large crowd are coming in.”
Responding to concerns over competing interests among top politicians in the ADC, Senator Gaya said the party would rely on consensus-building to manage leadership ambitions.
“We have agreed mainly on consensus,” he said.
Adding, he said the party would choose its presidential candidate based on strategy and what gives it the best chance of winning elections.
“The party will come out with its idea of what they want—what they should have. Who will be the President? Is it from the North or from the South? Whatever situation. But we have to find a way which we can be able to defeat the ruling party.”
Responding to claims that the ADC is only a platform for political realignment, Senator Gaya said the party has clear plans to tackle Nigeria’s economic challenges and deliver effective governance.
“It’s not like that. We have plans on what to do for the country. All we are watching is to see how we can get out of those problems and how we can have a leader who can be able to mastermind and be able to work with us to achieve a good and responsible government in the future. Almost all of our problems are the governance of this nation, and we need to do a lot to serve the Nigerians, both the low and the high, so that they could be able to appreciate the activities or the leadership of ADC in the country,” he explained.
Reiterating, Sen. Gaya said that the ADC aims to be inclusive and focused on solving Nigeria’s key problems through a clear governance blueprint.
“The interest is that ADC will carry all Nigerians along and take care of the problems that we know exist and try to find out a solution to those problems. Definitely, there are a lot of problems, that’s why people are not happy. And you find that there is an increase of people joining our party because they are not happy with the government. So that means that we have hope to do a lot for the people. And then we don’t go into the government without a blueprint. For the leadership who will then decide finally who will be the President and other members in the team, we’ll agree on what will be the blueprint for the party, so that things can move better. I’m sure we can be able to make a positive change to this country.”
He added that even if the court rules against the convention, the party remains confident that it followed due process and acted within the provisions of the Electoral Act.
“If the court does that, we’ll find a solution. But I believe it cannot do so. Because we followed the right track. We followed all the procedures to keep us away from making fault or disobeying the courts. What we did was in the process; what we did is in the interest of the conditions, the laws in the Electoral Act. We followed those processes, and we were able to have our convention,” he said.
According to Senator Gaya, the ADC believes its growing support base and recent convention demonstrate strong public backing and increasing political momentum.
“Yesterday when we had this convention, we saw in the zeal of the eyes of our people—all of them were ready to go back and continue the registration. We started the registration just some time ago, and we have large number of followers now. And I believe by the next one month also, you will see that we have been able to beat the rest of the other parties—or the party to beat—with the higher number of registered voters,” he concluded.
Favour Odima
Follow us on:
