African Democratic Congress national leader and House of Representatives member Leke Abejide has quit the party, blaming internal crises, legal battles, and what he called a plot to derail his 2027 ambition.
Abejide, who represents Yagba East/Yagba West/Mopamuro Federal Constituency of Kogi State, announced his exit Friday in Abuja but did not disclose his next political platform.
“It is a painful decision but necessary to save my political future from those who came to destroy my former party that I laboured hard to nurture and love dearly,” Abejide told reporters.
The lawmaker said the crisis began in August 2025 when he sued ADC coalition leaders Senator David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, Chief Ralph Nwosu, and the party itself. His lawyers secured accelerated hearing during the court vacation to beat INEC’s timetable for primaries.
“The judge obliged and granted us accelerated hearing so that each party can go ahead either with ADC or find another platform,” he said.
Abejide accused the defendants of stalling the case by “sending different people to join” the suit. “Due to long adjournment, occasioned by the opposing counsel’s tactics to frustrate speedy hearing, my counsel advised I should be looking for an alternative party,” he said.
He added that ADC’s leadership vacuum worsened his position. “My counsel further advised me that since ADC is leaderless and with the implication of not having validly elected National Chairman and National Secretary to sign my nomination form, which is mandatory by law, I should seek an alternative platform.”
Abejide alleged the coalition’s goal was not to grow ADC but to block long-time members. “Their intention was not to grow the party, but to ensure people like me who have been contesting on the platform since 2019, without defecting, and had been winning when ADC was relatively unknown, do not achieve their ambition. But they have failed. I have since moved on.”
He said he joined and funded ADC structures as national leader, building it into a party with National and State Assembly seats. “I have willingly relinquished the role to the current National Chairman, Hon. Nafiu Bala, and I wish him good luck as he will continue to fight for his rights in court.”
Abejide dismissed an April 14, 2026 expulsion claim, saying he had already “willingly and voluntarily exited” through constitutional means. “I was purportedly proclaimed as being expelled by people that wanted to reap where they did not sow. I had since extinguished my membership of ADC.”
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He said consultations with political leaders and constituents preceded the move. “I am ready to continue my support for this Progressive Club,” he said, citing alignment with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Quoting Isaiah 9:10, Abejide framed the defection as rebuilding: “The bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewn stones. The sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. I have decided to change the bricks that are fallen down in ADC to hewn stones in a better political party.”
He also clarified a viral video of Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila. “I was not in ADC to scatter the party I laboured to build,” Abejide said. “Gbajabiamila’s statement was made in a jovial manner, not meaning to destroy any party. He was even begging me not to leave my party and wished me good luck in court.”
He called Gbajabiamila “number one opposition that I have even seen from the National Assembly who believed in democracy,” adding that “party hijackers” were the ones expelling members without due process.
Abejide said his political structure has “put machinery in place” for 2027 through a new platform that can deliver “dividends of democracy.”
“On this note, I am officially informing you that I had since moved out of ADC to pursue my future political ambition,” he said.
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