Nafiu Bala, factional national chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has rejected reports that he resigned his position as deputy national chairman.
His reaction followed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s resolution on Wednesday regarding the ADC leadership crisis.He stated that a document claiming he resigned as national vice-chairman on May 17, 2025 did not emanate from him.
“My name is Hon. Nafiu Bala, the ADC acting national chairman,” he said.
“I would like to use this opportunity to address a document currently circulating, which claims that I resigned from my position as national vice chairman on May 17th.
“I wish to state that this paper did not come from me, and that is not my signature on it. The signature you see there was forged.
”Bala said his emergence as acting national chairman followed the resignation of the party’s former leadership.
“If you didn’t forget, on the 2nd of July, we attended the event where some people showed interest in joining our party, the ADC,” he said.
“On that day, the former ADC chairman, Ralph Nwosu, announced that he, his secretary, and other party leaders were stepping down from their positions.
“On that same day, he told the world that I, along with other people, would continue running the party affairs until the national convention.
”Bala said he has therefore resumed office as acting national chairman in line with the party’s constitution.“Because of that, I am resuming office today as the ADC national chairman. According to our party constitution, when there is no leader, the deputy takes over,” he said.
Bala added that any resignation letter he would issue would be done with his official letterhead.“When I was deputy national chairman, if I were to write a resignation letter, I would do it using my official letterhead,” he said.
“Any letter not containing my letterhead is not from me.”On August 1, 2025, Bala had similarly denied authorship of the resignation letter, dismissing the document as “entirely false, deceptive, malicious and fake”.
LITIGATION
Bala’s purported resignation provides a significant sub-plot in the ADC leadership crisis.On Thursday, David Mark, the former senate president who is embroiled in the party’s leadership tussle with Bala, said: “One of the officials in the dissolved NWC was Nafiu Bala, who was one of the Deputy National Chairmen of the party. It is on record that Gombe resigned this position on 17th May, 2025. His resignation was also duly transmitted to INEC on the 12th of August, 2025.
Regardless of his resignation, he decided to approach the courts on September 2nd, 2025, four clear months after his resignation, seeking to be recognised as the Chairman of the ADC.”The litigation involving Bala and Mark over the chairmanship of the ADC led to INEC withdrawing its recognition of the party and delisting names of the Mark executive from its portal.
On September 2, 2025, Bala approached a federal high court in Abuja (Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025), seeking to stop Mark’s team members from parading themselves as party leaders.He also sought an order to restrain INEC from recognising them and to compel recognition of himself as acting national chairman.He further filed motions seeking to stop the party from holding meetings, congresses, or conventions pending the determination of the suit.
The motion ex parte was heard on September 4, 2025, and Emeka Nwite, the trial judge, directed that the respondents, including INEC, be put on notice to show cause why the motion ex parte should not be granted.Dissatisfied with an interim ruling, Mark filed an appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the federal high court to continue to hear Bala’s suit.
However, on March 12, 2026, the court of appeal dismissed Mark’s case in its entirety, holding that it was incompetent and unmeritorious.
