Rival claimant to the leadership of main opposition coalition African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nafiu Bala Gombe, has admitted to getting outside help in prosecuting his legal matters against the Senator David Mark camp.
Recall that Mark, former Senate President and former Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, were, last week, de-recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and had their names struck out from its portal based on a leadership challenge case filed by Gombe on 2 September, 2025.
The Commission relied on the pronouncement of the Court of Appeal, which ordered parties in the case to maintain status quo ante bellum, with INEC interpreting same to mean that it should not deal with either side.
Against the backdrop of the dust the matter had raised across the country, the embattled ADC leadership accused the former Deputy Chairman (Gombe) of being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to play the spoiler role to enable President Bola Tinubu have no challenge in the 2027 presidential election.
Spokesman of the Mark camp, Bolaji Abdullahi, had last week stated this much when he wondered how Gombe, who, to him, on his own could not afford an ordinary lawyer, going by his financial status, would now be hiring more than three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to represent him -a venture that would probably run into tens of millions of Naira in expenses.
But, reacting yesterday, Gombe admitted getting outside help, but added that such assistance was not coming from government quarters or the APC, but from public-spirited individuals and Nigerians averse to the alleged injustice being meted out to him.
Abimuku Monday, spokesman to Gombe, who spoke during an appearance on Morning Briefs, a breakfast programme on Channels Television, on Tuesday, told his host: “Before now, they were saying these people are big weights and we’re lightweights. Now, we’re suddenly being seen as human beings.
“Earlier, we were seen as nobodies – as boys who don’t have capacity to challenge this in court.
“They say ‘Nafiu Bala does not even have money to pursue his case’. You see, that’s how they reduce people by their own estimation. They don’t find out who. They have forgotten that for you to seek legal actions, there are so many ways to go about it.
“It is either you use your own money or your personal relationship with people. Does it mean that somebody in politics cannot have his own friends or cannot have lawyers as his friend or cannot have other members of the society as his friends?
“These are not members of the APC. They don’t belong to any party. They’re citizens of this country, who mean well for Nigeria.
“Nobody is scuttling the coalition. The fact remains that if you have a challenge, people will rally around you knowing it’s a good cause you’re fighting. People will rally around you to give you the necessary support that you need. They even called my principal a small boy.”
*PHOTO CAPTION: Gombe.
