The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has vowed to proceed with its congresses and convention despite the stance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on its leadership tussle.

The National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, made this vow on Thursday when he made an appearance on Arise TV, saying that the party had already notified INEC of its planned congresses and convention.

“So we are saying that we will go ahead with our congresses. We have given INEC 21 days’ notice. They have accepted the notice,” Abdullahi said.

“So whether they come or not, we will continue with our congresses. And we will go on with our convention.”

This is coming on the heels of INEC’s announcement on Wednesday that it would no longer recognise the factions of the ADC led by David Mark and Nafiu Bala after reviewing a Court of Appeal judgment.

In a statement also on Wednesday, the ADC accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government of putting pressure on INEC to take illegal action to destabilise the opposition party, following the movement of the former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso.

On Sunday, Kwankwaso announced his resignation from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the following day, Monday, he formally joined the ADC.

Reacting to his defection on Wednesday via a post on his official X account, the ADC spokesman, Abdullahi, said: “The APC’s desperate plan has been uncovered.”

“Yesterday, we disclosed a sinister plot by agents of the ruling APC government to pressure INEC into taking illegal action to destabilise our party, following the milestone movement of H.E. Rabiu Kwankwaso to the ADC,” Abdullahi wrote.

He said after meeting a brick wall with INEC, the ruling APC government has now changed tactics, but the objectives remain the same.

“Information reaching us this morning is that a public protest is being planned for tomorrow, Thursday, 2nd April, in Abuja, sponsored by a particularly notorious minister. They expect that a protest will give oxygen to a case that is already suffocating in the courts under the weight of its own illegality,” the ADC spokesman added.

“The plan is simple: a paid crowd, posturing as aggrieved party members, will take to the streets demanding ‘David Mark Must Go.”

“This, they hope, will create ‘public pressure’ on the INEC Chairman to magically upgrade and recognise an individual who resigned his position and was subsequently expelled from the ADC, to the position of National Chairman of a party he no longer belongs to.”

Abdullahi said the plan by the ruling APC government to hijack the leadership of the ADC, the only viable opposition party left in the country, is real.

If anything, he said, the APC has assumed a new level of desperation in the past few days, as they are not just afraid of the ADC’s momentum, but they are afraid of what happens when the Nigerian people start paying attention and begin to believe that change is possible.

He assured that the ADC remains focused on its duty to Nigerians, and the party shall remain law-abiding, adding that they will, however, resist by all lawful and necessary means.

“If they are not acting on his orders, President Tinubu should rein in his enforcers before it is too late,” Abdullahi added.