Dumebi Kachikwu, the Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress for the 2023 general elections has been suspended by the party.
His suspension was announced by the party’s Deputy National Chairman (Politics), Mr Bamidele Ajadi in a statement on Friday.
Kachikwu was suspended following allegations of false, misguided and defamatory video he made which contravened the party’s principles and values.
What the ADC is saying
The party’s National Working Committee (NWC) held an emergency meeting on Friday before reaching the decision to suspend Mr Kachikwu.
Mr Ajadi noted that Kachikwu’s speech in the video contravened the principles and values upon which ADC is founded and the specific provision of Article 16 of the ADC Constitution.
Mr Kachikwu was also accused of failing to provide any roadmap of his plans for the general elections.
“His negative actions and/or inactions so far, have put in jeopardy the fate and prospects of all our candidates contesting for various offices across the country.
“The committee of the whole house, in a very clear and unequivocal term condemned the said video in its entirety and described it as a piece of badly crafted blackmail and mudslinging, and thereby unanimously recommended his immediate suspension from the party from today, Friday 2nd September 2022,” Ajadi said.
- The statement by the party reads in part, “The African Democratic Congress has suspended Dumebi Kachikwu, its Presidential Candidate over the false, misguided and defamatory video he made and circulated, amongst other infractions. The party made this known in a statement released to the press, at the end of its emergency National Working Committee (NWC) meeting on Friday, 2nd September 2022. The NWC viewed with great concern the baseless and defamatory video made, published and circulated by Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, which was intended to disparage and impugn the integrity and image of a peaceful and transformation-oriented African Democratic Congress and its National Officers.
- According to the Deputy National Chairman (Politics) Dr. Bamidele Ajadi, Dumebi’s speech in the video contravened the principles and values upon which ADC is founded and the specific provision of Article 16 of the ADC Constitution to wit: “Act(s) conduct or utterances likely to bring the Party into hatred, contempt or ridicule; engaging in dishonest practices, defrauding the Party, its members or officials; engaging in anti-party activities; unauthorized publicity of Party dispute or fractionalization or creating parallel Party organ(s) at any level; engaging in any other activities likely to cause disaffection among Party members or likely to disrupt the peaceful, lawful and efficient conduct of party business; belonging to any such factional group or organ; collusion or conspiracy to convene unauthorized meetings, shall constitute acts of gross misconduct.”