The leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has reaffirmed its commitment to holding its anticipated national convention 2026 today, Tuesday, April 14, despite a last-minute logistics hurdle that forced a change of venue.
Originally slated to take place at Eagle Square, party officials were met with an eleventh-hour “venue setback” regarding the use of the federal facility.
In a statement released late Monday, the party announced that the ADC national convention 2026 has been officially moved to the Rainbow Centre in Abuja.
However, speaking during an interview on Arise Television, a senior party figure, Kola Ologbondiyan, disclosed that the leadership received reports late Monday night indicating that the owner of the Rainbow Event Centre had been instructed to withdraw permission for the event.
According to him, the venue owner expressed concern about jeopardising his business, stating that he had been directed to ask the party to vacate the premises.
Ologbondiyan said: “Last night, we got reports that the owner of the Rainbow Event Centre came to inform the leadership that he had been instructed to withdraw permission. He said he did not want to lose his only means of livelihood.
“The leadership made it clear that having met all contractual engagements, there was no basis for us to vacate the venue at such a late hour. We told them that if anyone insists on enforcing such an order, they should come and do so themselves.
“If we are denied access to the venue, we are prepared to conduct the convention on the streets. This is our party, and the convention belongs to the members.”
Providing context on the challenges faced by the party, Ologbondiyan described repeated difficulties in securing venues for party activities as “shameful”, citing multiple instances where event centres withdrew agreements at short notice.
“It is strange that even before the election season, there appears to be panic among those in power. We have faced several last-minute cancellations from venues we had already engaged,” he said.
On concerns raised by the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, administration regarding alleged non-compliance with procedural requirements, Ologbondiyan insisted that the party had adhered strictly to the provisions of the Electoral Act.
“Our responsibility under the law is to notify the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at least 21 days before the convention. We have done that, and INEC has not rejected our notice,” he explained.
He added that the commission’s attendance at the convention was discretionary.
“Whether INEC decides to attend or not is entirely up to them. What the law requires of us, we have fulfilled,” he said.
He dismissed speculations of internal divisions within the party, particularly regarding leadership and the emergence of a presidential candidate, noting that such narratives were being pushed by external actors.
“What is important now is that the ADC continues to build and strengthen itself. Issues of candidacy will be resolved at the appropriate time, either through consensus or direct primaries,” he added.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in and around the Rainbow Event Center, venue of the ADC national convention being held in Abuja.
It was gathered that about 7,000 delegates were expected to participate in the election of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to pilot the affairs of the party for the next four years.
Security personnel of the Nigeria Police and Department of State Services (DSS) are manning the main entrance to the venue conducting thorough security checks on delegates before allowing them access to the venue.
Security patrol vehicles were at strategic locations manned by security operatives.
Journalists were also subjected to serious and thorough security checks before being allowed access to the venue.
It would be recalled that the party had been embroiled in a leadership crisis as two factions lay claims to ADC leadership.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had suspended the recognition of all leadership factions of the ADC following the Court of Appeal ruling and the ongoing litigation over party leadership.
