ADC Crisis Deepens: David Mark's Faction Expels Rivals

2027 Election Watch, Breaking News, Politics

ADC Purges Nafiu Bala, Abejide as Mark Faction Tightens Grip

David Mark’s ADC faction expels Nafiu Bala, Leke Abejide and others as venue rows, INEC battles and court fights deepen the crisis.

Atlantic Post

April 14, 2026

4–6 minutes

ADC, Breaking News, David Mark, INEC, Leke Abejide, Nafiu Bala, Nyesom Wike

The African Democratic Congress has entered one of its most combustible phases yet, with the David Mark-led faction using its Abuja convention on Tuesday, 14 April 2026, to expel its rival factional chairman, Nafiu Bala, House of Representatives member Leke Abejide, and several other top members over alleged anti-party activities.

The motion was moved by Senator Binos Yaroe and seconded by Abdussamad Dasuki before being adopted by delegates at the convention, underscoring how quickly the party’s internal dispute has shifted from a leadership tussle into an outright political purge.

The expulsions are the latest and most dramatic turn in a crisis that has split the ADC into competing camps claiming legitimacy. One side is aligned with David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola, while the other is linked to Nafiu Bala, who insists he is the authentic chairman.

That split has already spilled into the courts and forced the Independent National Electoral Commission to step back from recognising either faction until the matter is resolved, after the commission removed Mark and Aregbesola’s names from its portal on 1 April 2026.

What makes Tuesday’s convention especially significant is that it was not merely a disciplinary meeting. It was held under a cloud of venue controversy, legal uncertainty and public accusations of political interference.

The ADC alleged that Rainbow Event Centre came under pressure from the FCDA and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to cancel the booking, with the party’s spokesman Bolaji Abdullahi claiming the owner was warned that his licence could be revoked if the venue hosted the convention.

Wike’s camp rejected the accusation, saying the party applied to the wrong office and insisting the office of the FCT Minister was not the authority responsible for Eagle Square.

That venue dispute matters because it goes to the heart of a larger political question: whether opposition parties are being allowed enough space to organise freely ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Premium Times reported that the party had already shifted from public venues to a private facility after difficulties securing access to Eagle Square and the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, while also noting that no formal regulatory notice about the Rainbow controversy had been made public.

In political terms, the optics are damaging even if the facts are still contested.

David Mark, for his part, used the convention to present himself as the guardian of party discipline and democratic resistance.

He told delegates that the gathering would be remembered in Nigeria’s political history and insisted the ADC would not retreat under pressure.

“We will not bow, we will not cower, and we will not retreat,” he said, while also alleging that recent actions by INEC and other forces had created obstacles to the party’s activities.

That language is not accidental. It is designed to frame the crisis as a struggle for democratic survival rather than a mere internal quarrel over control.

The rival side has been equally combative. Before Tuesday’s convention, Leke Abejide led a protest to INEC demanding recognition of Nafiu Bala as chairman, while Bala argued that his claim rested on a subsisting court order.

Abejide accused what he called usurpers of trying to hijack the party and urged the electoral commission to “rescue democracy from the hands of usurpers.”

Those protests show that the Bala camp has not accepted the Mark leadership and sees the convention as an attempted political takeover rather than a legitimate party exercise.

The legal war remains central to everything. Counsel to the party, Jibrin Okutepa, said the Supreme Court granted accelerated hearing of the appeal arising from the leadership dispute, and later reports confirmed that the apex court fixed 22 April 2026 for hearing.

The Federal High Court in Abuja also moved to adjourn the related matter indefinitely after the Supreme Court steps, a development that effectively freezes the lower court’s hand for now.

That legal timeline is important because whichever side secures judicial validation will likely shape the ADC’s structure, its convention output and its election strategy going into 2027.

The expulsion of Bala, Abejide and others therefore looks less like a routine disciplinary decision and more like a strategic move to lock down the party before the courts speak.

It also sends a warning to anyone inside the ADC who may still be sitting on the fence. By making the convention the stage for punishment, the Mark faction has signalled that loyalty is now the minimum entry ticket for relevance.

That is a hardline tactic, but it may also deepen resentment and drive more defections, especially in a party that already looks like a coalition of convenience under severe strain.

For Nigeria’s opposition politics, the bigger lesson is grim. The ADC was meant to offer a fresh platform for anti-Tinubu realignment, yet it is now battling the same old diseases that have weakened many third-force projects in the country: personal ambition, parallel structures, court warfare and organisational confusion.

The party may still survive this storm, but its ability to sell itself as a credible alternative will depend on whether it can reconcile its camps, withstand legal shocks and stop turning every strategic disagreement into a public demolition exercise.

That is the real story behind Tuesday’s expulsions. It is not simply about names being removed from a list. It is about who controls the future of an opposition vehicle that wanted to look ready for power, but now looks trapped in a fight for its own survival.