The African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Adamawa State has been thrown into turmoil as two major factions, led by former senators Aishatu “Binani” Ahmed and Ishaku Abbo, announced their mass resignation from the party—delivering a significant blow to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s political stronghold.
The defections cap weeks of internal strife that splintered the party into three warring factions in the northeastern state, with the third faction loyal to former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal.
The Binani group was first to announce its departure Saturday following a stakeholders’ meeting in Yola. In a communique signed by Mijiyewa Kugama and Saidu Komsiri, the faction accused party leadership at both state and national levels of destroying internal democracy and manipulating recent congresses.
“We unequivocally declare that the actions of the party leadership at both state and national levels have destroyed internal democracy, undermined the rule of law, and rendered the party structure in Adamawa State illegitimate and unacceptable,” the communique read.
The faction alleged that congresses conducted under Ishaya Bauka’s leadership were “fundamentally flawed” and orchestrated to impose pre-selected candidates. It further accused party leaders of ignoring valid court judgments and subsisting injunctions.
“We hereby announce our immediate and irreversible resignation en masse from the African Democratic Congress,” the group stated, mandating Binani to lead stakeholders into “a more credible and democratic political platform” ahead of the 2027 governorship race.
Senator Ishaku Abbo, who represented Adamawa North, formally announced his defection Monday, promising to reveal his new political platform by week’s end.
“Peter Obi moved to the Labour Party barely 6 months before the election and won 12 states,” Abbo said. “President Faye of Senegal came out of prison two weeks before the elections and won. We have over 10 months until the elections and you are telling me that it’s too late?”
Abbo blamed the crisis squarely on Babachir Lawal, accusing him of disobeying court orders and hijacking the ADC structure. He revealed that an Adamawa High Court had ordered the party to suspend its congresses pending litigation—an order he claims the Lawal-backed faction ignored.
“Politics is war,” Abbo declared. “You don’t win war by being nice.”
The former lawmaker warned that the party’s defiance of court orders could prove catastrophic, citing the 2023 Plateau State disaster where all PDP candidates lost their seats after being sworn in due to disobedience of a state high court order.
“I do not want to lose my seat to the courts again, and I do not want anyone else to suffer my affliction,” Abbo said.
The mass exit deals a sharp blow to Atiku Abubakar’s political calculus in his home state. Just days ago, the former vice president had boasted of an “invincible coalition” comprising Binani, the Nyako dynasty, Abbo, and himself—what he called a “coalition of titans” that no political power in Adamawa could defeat.
That vision now lies in tatters as both Binani and Abbo take their followers elsewhere, leaving opposition strategy in Adamawa in disarray.
