The African Democratic Congress (ADC) says it does not plan on reconciling with Dumebi Kachikwu, its expelled presidential candidate.
Kachikwu and some other chieftains of the party were recently expelled for alleged “anti-party activities”.
The expulsion was announced days after they asked Ralph Nwosu, national chairman of the party, to resign after 17 years in office.
However, a faction of the party had dismissed the expulsion.
In a statement on Thursday, Nwosu said Kachikwu used his position as a presidential candidate to undermine the party.
“The attention of the leadership of ADC has been drawn to a circular being orchestrated by Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, the expelled Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress,” he said.
“Our party is unaware of this purported reconciliation of the dispute in the party as announced by Dumebi and his co-travellers on AIT and various media platforms.
“It should be clear that since Dumebi Kachikwu got the ADC Presidential ticket in June 2022, instead of using the ticket to drive the party towards the Presidency, rather, he chose to undermine the party and stagnate its progress; and has been trying to hijack the party through the backdoor and to destroy all our efforts for reasons best known to him.
“There has never been any serious move in line with the constitution of our great party, ADC, to resolve their case in the party. ADC is not averse to peaceful resolution of issues.
“However, we are a political party that believes in order, organizational procedures and protocols. ADC as a party operates based on its constitution, the rules and regulations from INEC, the Electoral Act and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Therefore, any peace efforts regarding their issues with the party must be in line with the above rules and procedures. Nobody sets his father’s house ablaze and says there is peace without resolving the fundamental issues with his father.
“Peace is good and necessary, but peace also has its own terms and conditions. Peace cannot be one sided as nobody claps with one hand, nor does anyone have a hair cut in the absence of the barber. We therefore would like to sternly warn Mr. Dumebi to keep ADC out of his foolery.
“The party is moving ahead and would not want to be distracted from our robust campaign arrangements for ADC’s over 1,980 Candidates. We wish to make it categorical that Dumebi Kachikwu remains expelled from ADC.”
