Malam Danladi Yau’s insistence that he continue to serve as the legitimate chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Gombe State has exacerbated the party’s leadership crisis.
Yau denied assertions made by Alhaji Auwal Abba Barde, who has persisted in presenting himself as the party’s chairman, in an interview with reporters shortly after the State Executive Council meeting in Gombe last Friday.
According to INEC, I am the legitimate chairman of the ADC in Gombe State. Anyone posing as the chairman is not real. “How can Barde still claim leadership when he was expelled in 2022?” Yau asked.
In December 2022, he presented himself to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the state’s acting chairman, along with a letter of appointment and introduction from the ADC National Working Committee.
Barde had earlier announced the dismissal of Yau as state secretary along with the deputy chairman and youth leader. Yau’s comments followed Barde’s counter-announcement.
Some state executives have remained loyal to Barde despite the national leadership suspending him in September 2022 for alleged anti-party activities.
Yau claims that after serving the two four-year terms allowed by the constitution, Barde’s term as chairman ended in 2019.
He maintained that Barde’s ongoing assertion of leadership was unlawful and detrimental to the party’s reputation.
Yau pledged allegiance to the ADC’s David Mark-led national leadership and declared that the party would start registering new members in all 114 Gombe State wards as part of an attempt to fortify the party before the general elections in 2027.
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