ADC Chairmen has demanded INEC removal of David Mark from portal and threatened nationwide protest.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the National Executive Committee (NEC) Chairmen Forum of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove Senator David Mark and members of his dissolved Interim National Working Committee from its portal.
The forum threatened to organise a nationwide protest if the commission fails to implement a court judgment on the party’s leadership dispute.
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Demands
The forum also asked INEC to:
- Replace the names of the Mark-led committee with those of Nafiu Bala Gombe and other officials it considers the party’s legally recognised leaders.
- Reopen its portal so the ADC can hold fresh primaries where necessary and submit its candidates for the 2027 general elections.
The forum’s secretary, Kennedy Odion, made the demands while speaking to journalists in Abuja on Friday, a day after Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja nullified the Mark-led interim leadership of the party.
Impact on Atiku’s candidacy
Odion said the judgment invalidated decisions taken by the dissolved leadership, including the nomination of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate and the emergence of other candidates through congresses and the national convention organised by the interim leadership.
He said the ruling backed the forum’s position that the interim leadership was not recognised by the party’s constitution. He added that the judgment also affected the candidacies of Atiku’s running mate, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, and other politicians who emerged through processes run by the interim leadership.
“We, the only legally recognised NEC members, accept in its entirety the judgment declaring our own Alhaji Nafiu Bala Gombe the authentic national chairman of the ADC,” Odion said.
“Failure to comply with this latest judgment will leave us no option but to proceed with our planned nationwide protest against the electoral umpire. Nigeria is for all of us. No individual, however highly placed, is above the law,” he said.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the ADC has been divided by a prolonged leadership dispute between the Mark-led interim national working committee and the faction led by Gombe. The ADC has rejected Thursday’s judgment, describing it as legally indefensible and linking its timing to the party’s Sokoto rally.
In July, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, called on INEC to investigate Gombe over his claim that his faction had uploaded the party’s candidates to the commission’s nomination portal, which Abdullahi described as false.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
