PRESS RELEASE

Communique of the South East Expanded Zonal Working Committee (ZWC) Meeting held on Thursday 17th July, 2025 at Enugu

The meeting was massively attended by all the delegates and Party Chieftains from the five States of South East Zone. The meeting exhaustively discussed various issues bordering on plans and strategies to rebuild, rebrand and reposition ADC in South East in order to win all the Elective Positions in the 2027 General Elections in Nigeria.

Noting the recent unfoldings in the political landscape of Nigeria with regards to the selection of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the political platform for the coalition to defeat the reactionary and bankrupt All Progressive Congress (APC) led Federal Government in the forthcoming 2027 General Elections in Nigeria and thus, restore Nigeria back to the path of glory.

The meeting deliberated on the strategies to strengthen the structures of ADC in South East Zone from the polling units to the State levels.

The meeting unanimously resolved that in 2027, ADC will not contest elections for the sake of contesting elections but with intention to win elections. The Party will feature candidates that will win Elections in all the Elective Positions in South East in 2027.

The meeting called on the South East political Elites to think futuristically by joining the coalition and adopt the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the only political Party with the manifesto that Focuses on Liberation of South East from the shackles of bad governance and political mediocrity.

The meeting used the opportunity to inform the public that Membership Registration into the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is ongoing in all the Electoral Wards in South East, and therefore call on the people of South East to immediately troop out enmass to register and collect their Membership Cards in the registration centers.

ADC South East is committed to Mobilize over ten million members into ADC in South East before the end of 2025.

In order to achieve the aforementioned, the ADC South East Zonal Working Committee (ZWC) constituted five high powered Committees as follows:
1. Contact and Mobilization Committee

2. Media and Publicity Committee

3. Conflict Resolution and Management Committee

4. Planning and Strategy Committee

5. Resource Mobilization Committee

The meeting vowed that ADC will win the forthcoming Anambra Governorship Election and therefore call on the people of Anambra State to come out enmass to register with ADC. In addition, the leadership of ADC in South East assured the meeting that by the end of December 2025, ADC will emerge as the dominant Political Party in South East.

Finally, the meeting Condemned in it’s totality the worsting security situation in South East, and therefore pledge to holistically combat and stop the insecurity in South East Nigeria once elected into Power.

Signed

Chilos Godsent
National Vice Chairman South East

ThankGod Ofoelue
Zonal Publicity Secretary

Justice Maryanne Anineh of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday, July 17, 2025, struck out an application by the former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Adoza Bello, for the release of his passport to enable him travel to the United Kingdom for medical treatment.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is prosecuting Bello alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu before Justice Anineh on a 16-count charge, bordering on criminal breach of trust and money laundering to the tune of N110.4 billion.

At the last sitting, Bello, through his counsel, J.B. Daudu, SAN, had made an application, dated June 19, 2025 and filed on June 20, 2025, praying for a temporary release of his passport to enable him attend a scheduled medical appointment in the United Kingdom, with an undertaking to return the passport to the court upon his return.

In his response to the application, prosecution counsel, Chukwudi Enebeli, SAN, however, urged the court to refuse the request, arguing that the application was aimed at altering the bail conditions the court imposed on the defendant, which required him to deposit his passport with the court.

He further argued that the defendant’s sureties ought to have been put on notice to confirm their continued willingness or not to remain as sureties if the defendant was permitted to travel out of the country.

The prosecution counsel further submitted that the defendant had engaged in abuse of court process by filing a similar application in another court, which was still pending.

“The proper thing would have been for the defendant to retrieve his passport from the other court and then apply for a travel permit before this court. Asking both courts to release the same passport at the same time creates the risk of conflicting orders, which is an abuse of process,” he said.

At the resumed sitting on Thursday, prosecution counsel, Jami’u Agburo, informed the court that the matter was for ruling on the application and that the prosecution was ready.

In her ruling, Justice Anineh held that her court lacked the jurisdiction to grant the application since the defendant’s passport was not held by her court.

“A review of the court’s record revealed that the applicant had previously been ordered to deposit his passport and other travel documents with the registry of the court. However, upon further inquiry and search conducted by the court, it was discovered that the said passport was not presently in the custody of the court’s registry but with the Federal High Court. The defendant even deposed to an affidavit himself, stating that his passport had been deposited with the Federal High Court in a bail earlier granted him.

“The simple logic is that the passport cannot be with two different courts at the same time. Since the defendant admitted depositing the passport with the Federal High Court, there is no reason making any order here in regards to the application. Courts don’t make orders in vain and as such, this court will not make any order that will be in vain since the passport in issue is not with this court but the Federal High Court,” she said.

She adjourned the case till October 8, 9 and November 13, 2025, for continuation of trial.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has lauded the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, describing him as a leader who served Nigeria without embezzling the nation’s treasury.

Akpabio made the remarks on Thursday at an expanded Federal Executive Council meeting held in Abuja in honour of Buhari.

The President of the Senate noted that even the former president’s critics would concede that he did not misappropriate public funds while in office.