The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has pledged to engage with aggrieved members but says it will not appease those it accuses of working with “ulterior motives” to destabilise the party.

Bola Abdullahi, the party’s interim National Publicity Secretary, made the remarks on Saturday while briefing journalists in Abuja.

He alleged that some political actors were attempting to undermine the ADC, just as had happened with other opposition parties such as the PDP, Labour Party, and SDP.

“We have people, even within leadership ranks, who voluntarily resigned their positions. Some have also expressed grievances against the party,” Abdullahi said. “While legitimate concerns have been addressed, we cannot continue to indulge those acting with ulterior motives to destabilise the ADC.”

Abdullahi stressed that the ADC remained united and unfractionalised, noting that its new leadership emerged from the 99th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, which was observed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He dismissed reports that a court had restrained the party’s leadership from functioning, describing them as “false and misleading.” According to him, the court had only declined certain prayers and requested the party’s appearance on 15 September.

“With INEC’s recognition of our leadership, a major hurdle has been crossed,” he said, adding that Sen. David Mark and Mr Rauf Aregbesola were now legitimately authorised to sign and issue membership cards.

He also dismissed remarks by the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Dr. Dumebi Kachikwu, who described the new leadership as “an assemblage of retired politicians.” Abdullahi argued that Kachikwu, not being a member of the ADC, lacked the authority to speak on its internal affairs.

Responding to questions on the party’s recent by-election outing, he maintained that the result was not reflective of the ADC’s true strength, insisting that the ruling party would be “shocked” in future contests.

On governance, Abdullahi urged the ruling party to be transparent with statistics on appointments, projects, and programmes nationwide. He added that the real issue was not the duration of four years in office, but whether the government had the right direction.