After failed presidential bid, Moghalu dumps ADC

A presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kingsley Moghalu, has dumped the party.

Moghalu made his decision known via a letter addressed to the ADC chairman, Okey Nwosu.

The former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cited infractions from the ADC presidential primaries as the reason for dumping the party.

He stated that the process and conduct of the party’s presidential primaries on June 8, 2022, revealed a fundamental clash of values between him and the leadership of the party.

Moghalu, who polled 589 votes in the primaries held in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, was defeated by the founder of Roots Television Nigeria, Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, who garnered 978 votes.

He stated: “I am writing to hand in my resignation from my membership of the African Democratic Congress, effective immediately.

“I have resigned because the process and conduct of the party’s presidential primary on June 8, 2022, at Abeokuta revealed a fundamental clash of values between me and your leadership of the party.

“Despite the circular you issued a few days prior to the primary committing the party to providing transportation and accommodation for delegates to and in Abeokuta, and which as we agreed would provide a level playing field for all the presidential aspirants, the party under your leadership failed to do so.

“Some aspirants, including myself, made donations to the ADC party account as requested by the party for this purpose.

“This failure, which appeared intentional, created room for massive abuses of the electoral process including delegate capture and financial inducement of delegates,” the letter partly read.

Moghalu, however, failed to disclose if he would join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2023 general election.

He added: “As you are well aware, I have consistently resisted pressures to join the APC or the PDP precisely to avoid ‘cash-and-carry’ politics.

“For me to remain a member of the ADC therefore, after what thousands of party members participated in at Abeokuta, would be to endorse political corruption of a most obscene order.

“I joined the ADC in October 2021 with the best of intentions. Since then, I have put my entire team to work on growing and improving the party, including raising the party’s visibility on all media platforms, recruiting more than 10,000 new members to the party, and providing new offices for various state chapters of the party at my expense.

“It is deeply regrettable that other inducements appear to have played more important roles in determining the outcome of the primary than loyalty to the party,” Moghalu stated.

The Star