The African Democratic Congress in Kogi State held its expanded executive and stakeholders’ meeting in Lokoja on Saturday, using the forum to confirm new state officers and address growing disputes over the party’s direction. The meeting also became a platform for a sharp exchange between Hon Leke Abejide and Senator Dino Melaye over control of the party’s structures in the state.
Delegates from the 21 local government areas and nine federal constituencies attended the congress, which ratified Chief Sunday Maiyaki as State Chairman and Hon Mamman Akpena as State Secretary. The decisions followed a review of vacancies arising from resignations, deaths and disengagement by former officials.
The event was presided over by Abejide, who is the party’s only elected federal lawmaker. His appearance came days after Melaye, acting as solicitor for the ADC, issued a notice to the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies describing the Lokoja meeting as unauthorised. Melaye’s letter, dated 17 November 2025 and signed on the letterhead of “SDM Law Firm”, argued that Abejide had been expelled for alleged anti-party activities and lacked the authority to convene or preside over party meetings.
Addressing the congress, Abejide rejected the claim and criticised Melaye’s intervention. He questioned the senator’s authority to issue directives on behalf of the party and referred to him as a “feeding-bottle lawyer” while defending his own standing within the ADC. He said: “We will resist his shenanigans and prove to him we are more politically savvy than him,” adding that he remained a member who had “nurtured” the party in Kogi through successive electoral cycles.
Abejide also referenced the 2023 governorship election in which both men were candidates, contrasting their performances in their respective local government areas. He warned that any repeat of what he called Melaye’s “2023 shenanigans” against him or against “my principal, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” would be met with firm resistance. He said he preferred respectful engagement but added, “If you put your finger in my mouth, I will bite you.”
He said, “Immediately after our governorship elections in November 2023, Senator Dino addressed a press conference that Kogi West Elders Forum endorsed me as Candidate of Kogi West for Governor; he got a few votes more than me in that election. This is an opportunity to inform the general public that Dino Melaye told the whole world he had 13 serving governors with him, while I had none to support me, but lo and behold, this same PDP candidate did not win one local government, not even Ijumu Local Government where he comes from, but I won my own Local Government, Yagba East, despite all odds.
“ADC must be very careful with the characters they are harbouring as members because some people’s character can diminish the image of a political party. A bad example is Dino, who wrote as a baby lawyer to the INEC chairman and copied IGP, DG DSS, trying to lie that I have been expelled from a party that I nurtured myself and brought to the limelight by contesting elections and won back-to-back to the House of Representatives and has never decamped to any political party since 2017. If he is not a feeding-bottle lawyer, he ought to know that someone elected on a platform of a party has locus standi over those who came in through the window. Dino, I want you to know that any attempt for you to exhibit your 2023 shenanigans against me or my principal, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will be met with stiff opposition that will leave a sour taste in your mouth. I am a well-brought-up person and I do my things with utmost respect, but if you put your finger in my mouth, I will bite you so much that you will never forget in your lifetime.”
Beyond the dispute, the meeting focused on consolidating leadership. Maiyaki, in his acceptance speech, described his emergence as “a solemn call to serve, unite, and lead with unwavering integrity.” He pledged to strengthen organisational structures and expand participation across wards and local councils. Supporters from all nine federal constituencies endorsed the new leadership.
The congress also reaffirmed the expulsion of Kingsley Ogga as state chairman. A letter dated 1 November 2024 and signed by stakeholders in Odo-Ara/Omi/Ogga Ward was read aloud, listing the grounds for Ogga’s removal. The ward is the home base of Temitope Ogga.
Cultural troupes from Okun, Igala and Ebira communities performed during the meeting, reflecting attempts to project broad support for the party’s restructuring.
Stakeholders concluded the congress with a declaration of support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s second-term bid in 2027 and for Abejide’s return to the House of Representatives, describing the resolutions as the foundation for renewed cooperation within the Kogi ADC.
