Musa Hassan, the chair of the African Democratic Congress coalition in Niger State, has withdrawn from efforts to challenge former Senate President David Mark’s membership in the ADC and his recent appointment as interim national chairman of the party.

Mr Hassan announced the withdrawal of intent to prosecute the Mark-led coalition in a letter addressed to the party on Monday, urging the ADC lawyers to file a motion of discontinuance at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.

“I do not intend to continue the prosecution of the case against my great party, Africa Democratic Congress,” wrote the Niger ADC chairman.

“I sincerely plead that the notice of discontinuance be filed to tomorrow morning, as the case was adjourned to 23/7/2025 for hearing and a copy of the application sent to me,” Mr Hassan wrote on Monday, extricating himself from the legal tussle instigated by Mr Kachikwu, who is rumoured to be President Bola Tinubu’s secret agent and snitch in the coalition.

Mr Kachikwu, CEO of Roots TV, whose assets were confiscated and forfeited to the U.S. government over tax fraud charges, had sought Mr Hassan’s support to protest the ADC membership of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ex-governor Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Peter Obi (Anambra), and former Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami.

Opposition leaders recently adopted the ADC to mount a robust challenge to Mr Tinubu, whose reign has been tainted by endemic corruption, abuse of power, and a sudden security collapse.

Mr Kachikwu fiercely kicked against the coalition, going as far as launching a disinformation campaign against the new members.

Speaking on Channels TV on Sunday, he again disparaged the coalition as being full of members who “destroyed” Nigeria.

“People who destroyed our country are here again to deceive the people,” he said on TV. “Nigerians are yearning for fresh ideas and perspectives; these people are inconsistent with the reality of the country. We won’t allow them to ruin the party.”

Sources earlier this month told Peoples Gazette that Mr Kachikwu was secretly working for Mr Tinubu to sow discord in the coalition constituted to unseat the incumbent Nigerian leader, like former Rivers governor Nyesom Wike, who waged an internal war against the PDP in the run-up to the 2023 polls.