IBADAN, NIGERIA — A leadership crisis has erupted within the Oyo State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as two factions lay claim to the leadership of the Membership Revalidation and Membership Registration (MRMR) Committee ahead of the ongoing membership exercise in the state.
The dispute deepened on Monday when a former Chief of Staff to Governor Seyi Makinde, Chief Bisi Ilaka, announced the names of ten additional members of what he described as his committee during a press briefing at the Oyo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Iyaganku, Ibadan.
However, the party’s state leadership swiftly moved to dismiss Ilaka’s claim. Addressing journalists at the ADC Secretariat in Mokola, Ibadan, the party’s Publicity Secretary, Barrister Bimpe Adelowo, reaffirmed that Mr. Ayo Akinyemi remains the duly recognised chairman of the MRMR Committee, with Professor Folake Tafita serving as secretary.
“There is no other committee saddled with this function in Oyo State. We only know of one committee, and that is the committee whose names were submitted to Abuja,” Adelowo stated.
Adelowo explained that the committee was formally inaugurated on February 12, 2026 in Abuja by the national leadership of the party, with a clear mandate to coordinate and supervise the membership revalidation and fresh registration exercise across the state
. He stressed that the committee was properly constituted with representatives drawn from the three senatorial districts to ensure balanced representation.
The party called on individuals engaged in parallel activities relating to the membership exercise to desist and instead support the officially constituted structure of the party.
“Anyone that is doing something else should just conserve their energy and come back to the fold so that we can push this party forward. It does not pay anyone to sit behind the fence or on the fence and continue to throw tantrum inside in order to distort the progress we are making,” Adelowo said.
Akinyemi, the recognised committee chairman, confirmed that the membership revalidation and registration exercise has been progressing steadily across the state’s 33 local government areas since the committee’s inauguration.
He noted that following the activation of the online portal on March 1, the committee established flexible registration stations to assist members encountering difficulties with the online process, particularly those without Android-enabled smartphones or adequate internet access.
The development comes as parties across Nigeria scramble to meet the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) April 2 deadline for the submission of comprehensive digital membership registers under the Electoral Act 2026.
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