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- Secretary insists on Chairman’s suspension
Ahead of the 2027 polls, crisis has rocked the Action Democratic Party (ADP) over alleged misappropriation of campaign funds and tenure elongation of the National Chairman Yabaji Sani.
Sani dismissed the allegations, insisting that he remains the party’s National Chairman.
But loyalist to ADP National Secretary, Victor Fingesi, warned Sani against fueling the crisis and demanded his suspension.
Fingesi said the decision to suspend Sani was taken by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) on Tuesday November 3, 2026 following his series of constitutional breaches.
He cited Article 45.1(a) of the ADP Constitution clearly spells out the tenure of party officers, saying that there “shall hold a particular office for a term of four years and shall be eligible for re-election only for one term.”
He added that Sani who had already spent more than two terms (eight years) in office has refused to step aside.
According to him, a memo dated November 6, 2026, and addressed to all members of the National Working Committee (NWC), Sani claimed that the four-year tenure of the party’s Zonal, State, Senatorial District, Local Government Area, Ward and Polling Unit Executive Committees expired on May 30, 2026, while the four-month transitional period for fresh congresses elapsed on September 30, 2026.
He argued that the continued operation of those structures without what he called “constitutional regularisation raises questions about their authority, the validity of their decisions and the integrity of the party’s organisational structures.”
He therefore proposed that the NWC should formally acknowledge the expiration, dissolve and reconstitute the affected committees, appoint Caretaker Committees for a period not exceeding 90 days, approve a nationwide timetable for fresh congresses from Polling Unit to Zonal level and set up a National Congress Planning and Monitoring Committee to be coordinated by the National Organising Secretary in conjunction with the National Legal Adviser.
However, National Secretary of the party, Fingesi faulted the memo, describing it as illegal and a misinterpretation of the decisions of the National Convention.
According to him, the National Convention of May 29, 2026 gave members of NEC another four years in office.
He argued that NEC as constituted under the ADP Constitution covers officers from below the national level, including State Chairmen and other statutory members.
On that basis, he said the convention’s renewal of the NEC cannot be interpreted to suit Engr. Sani’s whims as he tries to elongate his stay in office.
“The convention renewed the NEC for another four years. You cannot pick and choose which part of the NEC was renewed. The memo seeks to create a distinction that the convention never made,” he said.
He argued that any attempt by the NWC to dissolve the lower executive committees on the ground of expired tenure, while claiming that the National Executive was renewed, contradicts the same convention decision relied upon by the suspended National Chairman.
He questioned the invocation of Articles 17.3, 22.2(d), 23.2(e), 23.3, 45.1 and 47 of the ADP Constitution to justify emergency powers, dissolution and appointment of caretaker committees, insisting that the NWC cannot act on behalf of NEC to dissolve structures whose tenure, in his view was renewed by the convention.
The National Secretary maintained that the illegal memo, if implemented, would amount to an unlawful dissolution of duly constituted party structures and could plunge the party into further crisis ahead of the 2027 general elections.
