September 07, (THEWILL) — The uncertainty surrounding the leadership of the coalition backed opposition African Democratic Congress, ADC, could fade away very soon as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has opened talks with the Senator David Mark-led Interim National Working Committee, NWC, of the party, THEWILL can report.
Credible INEC sources told THEWILL in confidence that as part of INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu’s commitment to respect the supremacy of political parties in the conduct of their internal affairs, he met with some members of the Interim NWC where they were informed that administrative errors had led to the creation of the impression that the Commission was acting unfavorably towards the party.
The errors were said to have arisen because the erstwhile Ralph Nwosu led executives, which had resigned for the Mark-led executives, were the ones still communicating with INEC (Nwosu as Chairman and Sa’id Baba Abdullahi as Secretary) with little input from the new executives. This procedural error is now being resolved according to both INEC and ADC sources.
THEWILL sighted four letters dated July 29, 2025, addressed to Prof Yakubu. They were all signed by Nwosu and Abdullahi. They contained information on the 62 new national officers of the ADC as ratified by the outgoing exco; submission of names of the new principal officers of the party for upload in the website of the Commission; submission of the specimen signature of new principal officers of the party and the report of the 99th National Executive Committee meeting of the party held on the same date (July 29).
The new Senator David Mark led ADC was officially unveiled on July 29, 2025. Expectedly, the new exco ought to begin communication with the electoral umpire, THEWILL gathered. “This is what is being sorted out,” a senior ADC official told THEWILL asking not to be unmasked.
Contacted for comments, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the ball was in ADC’s court.
In a short statement to THEWILL, he said, “The Commission does not have any position. Once ADC complies with the existing rules, the Commission will recognise the new Exco.”
Given this new development, THEWILL gathered that leaders still being addressed as coalition partners of the party may soon defect as full members in preparation for the party’s national convention proposed for November, this year. A reliable party source told this newspaper that its National Convention will either ratify the Interim Exco or elect a new one, depending on the consensus on the matter.
THEWILL gathered that the Labour Party leader, Peter Obi and the ‘Obidient Movement,’ may defect to the ADC as part of calculations to prepare grounds for the battle ahead for the presidential candidate of the party in 2027.
For former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, recently, it is a question of time, one of his close allies told THEWILL anonymously. His supporters across the states in the country have since moved into the party. Obi, who had retained his membership of the Labour Party up until now, is said to be ready to fully commit to the ADC with his ‘Movement’ serving as his structure that can help him make the expected impact in the fight for the party’s presidential candidate.
ARROWHEADS OF DEFECTION
Some leaders of the Obidient Movement and LP who hold no positions so as to avoid being accused of inter-party activity are pushing the move to defect. One of the prominent faces behind this move is the party’s governorship candidate in the 2023 governorship poll in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour. He is said to be coordinating the plan in Lagos. Other leaders are also making similar moves in various states.
Obi had earlier issued a guidance before the August 16, 2025 by-election across 12 states that those who have elections to contest could do so on LP platform, while those willing to move to the ADC could freely do so. This directive appears to be what is driving the new push for defection to the ADC.
Already, a coalition of the Obidient Movement and LP in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, comprising three other development areas, had chosen Saturday, September 6, 2025 for a public announcement of their defection to ADC. Rhodes Vivour was expected as Chief host of the event. As at press time, the planning committee had complained of police harassment. They got to the planned venue of the event on Friday and found a sentry there.
They claimed they had formally written to the Area Commander of the Police to notify the office of the planned gathering but were surprised to see policemen restricting access to the venue. In a video sent to this newspaper by the organisers, Rhodes Vivour is captured promising to lead a delegation to the Commissioner of Police to resolve the matter, saying, “It is their democratic right to gather and associate and nobody is going to deny them that right.”
At the formal declaration of Rhodes-Vivour, his supporters and some members of the Obidient Movement into ADC on Saturday, thugs suspected to have been mobilised by security operatives stormed the second venue secured for the event, Church Gospel Mission prayer ground in Alimosho and dispersed Rhodes-Vivour’s supporters, leaving many injured during the attack. The thugs broke down the doors and windows of the church and prevented the injured from coming out. Later, the Police arrived and cordoned off the area, preventing people from leaving until Rhodes Vivour prevailed on them to allow everyone leave the venue.
One of the OM leaders at the event confided in THE WILL that they were undeterred and would go ahead to hold a strategic meeting and ” finish what we have started.’”
Sources in the Obidient Movement told THEWILL that their early defection from the LP into the ADC would enable them build a formidable structure that Obi could ride on to successfully challenge for the party’s presidential ticket.
“From our assessment, PDP members currently dominate in the ADC. We have to make some adjustments by holding official positions in readiness for its presidential primaries. That is why we have to move into the party before it holds its convention,” a leader of the Obidient Movement told THEWILL.
Will the Senator Nenadi Usman-led LP move into ADC if Obi becomes the presidential candidate of the ADC?
Special Media Adviser to Senator Usman, Ken Asogwa told THEWILL that the LP stands by its May 2025 declaration that Obi is free to join the coalition, even as he remains a card- carrying member of the party. He argued that the party has no plan to dissolve into the ADC. He accused the Abure-led faction of peddling the story of defection as a way to smear the Nenadi Usman led party.
“There is no fact in that story. The Nenadi Usman-led party was the only Labour Party in Nigeria. When Obi opened discussion with the coalition, we said on May 26, 2025 that his participation received our blessing. Obi himself stated that he was in the coalition for the 2027 General Election. He is still a member of the Labour Party. But the party is not going to dissolve into the coalition. In fact, we have rolled out the plan to conduct ward and state congresses beginning next month,” Asogwa said.
When asked if Obi decides to remain in ADC, would the LP’s blessing translate into support for him, Asogwa drew blank.
THEWILL reports that the INEC had declared the Abure-led faction illegal during the August 16, 2025, by-election. In its response to a lawsuit filed by Abure its exclusion from participating in the August 16 LGA polls, INEC had insisted that the tenure of the National Executive Committee (NEC) led by Abure had expired, adding that by a recent judgment of the Supreme Court, there is presently a vacuum in the leadership of the LP.
Prior to the conduct of the August 16, 2025 by-election, INEC had argued that the March 27, 2024, convention at Nnewi in Anambra State, where Abure claimed that he and other members of his National Executive Committee were re-elected, was conducted “in contravention of the Constitution of the Federal Republic, 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act, 2022, Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022 issued by the Commission and the plaintiff’s Constitution 2019.”
INEC told the Federal High Court that based on the Supreme Court’s verdict, “the plaintiff cannot convene valid primaries to field candidates for the upcoming 2025 by-elections into the various constituencies scheduled to hold on 16/08/2025 under the leadership of Julius Abure who is no longer the National Chairman of the plaintiff as held by Supreme Court.”
It added, “As at the time the date of the by-election was given, the Court of Appeal judgment by which Julius Abure was recognised as the National Chairman of the party was set aside by the Supreme Court”.
On his part, the National Coordinator of the ‘Obidient Movement,’ Tanko Yinusa responded to the question by saying that the Obidient Movement goes anywhere Obi goes, “without question or doubt.”
According to him, it is only natural that the OM should follow him wherever he goes because Obi is the leader of the OM.
“I have stated before and that statement still stands that Obi is a member of the LP and at the same time, he maintains a partnership with the ADC for the 2027 general election. Things will become clearer at the end of November. Again, Obi is the leader of the ‘Obidient Movement.’ Wherever he goes, we will go with him because the Movement is the structure we have for him.” Yinusa said. Yinusa, who recently stated that the OM is waxing strong in about 23 states across the country, maintains that the Movement is the “structure we are putting behind Obi,” he told THEWILL.
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Amos Esele, THEWILL
Amos Esele is the Acting Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.