Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has derecognised former Senate President David Mark and ex-Governor Rauf Aregbesola as national chairman and secretary of the African Democratic Congress respectively, less than 14 days to the national convention of the major opposition party.
INEC, accused by ADC of carrying out the wish of President Bola Tinubu and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), however cited a ruling of the Court of Appeal.
The electoral commission also removed the chairman of the ADC faction, Nafiu Bala Gombe, following its review of the Court of Appeal judgement dated March 12, 2026.
INEC announced its decision on Wednesday April 1, 2026, following its review of a judgmeent in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/145/2026, which arose from a leadership dispute within the ADC.
This decision comes at a time when there is widespread belief among opposition politicians that the Tinubu Govt is using the courts and other institutions to annihilate opposition parties.
Many had alleged that APC is planning to turn Nigeria into a one-party democracy.
INEC said it would also remove the names of members of the party’s factional National Working Committee led by Mr Mark from its official portal, in compliance with the court’s directive to maintain the “status quo ante bellum.”
It noted that the decision meant that it would no longer recognise anyone as an executive member or leader of the party pending the final determination of the case before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The ongoing legal dispute, believed by many opposition figures as being instigated by the APC government, is between Mr Mark and Mr Gombe, who claimed that he, rather than Mr Mark, was entitled to lead the party as acting national chairman following the resignation of the previous leadership.
It had also been alleged that the Electoral Act was amended to make it almost impossible for the opposition parties to mount a reasonable challenge to Mr Tinubu’s relection bid in 2027.
The heavily contested new Electoral Law had yet to be gazetted, a move according to the opposition parties, is to use unknown provisions in the Act to spring surprises during the election in favour of Tinubu’s APC.
That aside, the new law was enacted very late to the election and all time frames and windows for party procedures were bridged, which observers see as an effort to make the new ADC to be unable to put its acts together going into the election that was also brought forward froom March, 2027 to January.
According to renowned political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, ” There is a deliberate attempt by the ruling party, those in power to exclude significant political opponents from actually being on the ballot box, using capture of INEC, the Judiciary and those institutions.”
He added, “INEC’s rush to validate the so-called new executive of the PDP clear, clear evidence that INEC is a parastatal of the APC and is about to bring democracy in Nigeria to a sordid, sad end if the people do not arise and take their country back.”
Prof Sam Amadi, while speaking on AriseTV NewsNight also questioned why the same INEC that refused to strike out the name of Julius Abure as Chairman of the Labour Party even after he was sacked by the Supreme Court was in such a hurry to derecognise the Mark-led ADC executive.
He opined that there was in fact no need for INEC to act after the Court of Appeal decision and that the status-quo should have been allowed to remain – because Mr. Mark was already exercise powers of a chairman when Mr. Gombe went to court.
Prof. Amadi revealed that an insider in INEC confided in him that there is a sinister plan to deregister ADC, the only party that presently has the capacity to defeat APC in 2027.
Meanwhile, Mr Gombe had approached the court to stop Mr Mark’s group from parading themselves as party leaders and to compel INEC to recognise him instead.
But INEC said it would not recognise either faction and would not accept communications from any of the groups or monitor any of their meetings, congresses, or conventions organised in the name of the ADC until the case is resolved by the court.
INEC also declined Mr Gombe’s request to take over the party’s leadership, insisting it would remain neutral while the matter is still before the court.
The commission noted that although Mr Mark’s leadership emerged after a party meeting in July 2025 and hia name was uploaded on its portal in September 2025, the Court of Appeal’s ruling requires a return to the status quo before the lawsuit was filed in September 2025.
“Since the names of the current National Working Committee members led by Senator David Mark were uploaded on 9th September, 2025 by INEC (7 days after the suit was instituted), the names would be removed from the INEC portal pursuant to the order of the Court of Appeal to maintain the status quo ante bellum until the matter is decided by the trial court,” the commission argued in a statement on Wednesday.
The fight over the party’s leadership began in July 2025, when a new National Working Committee faction led by Mr Mark emerged after the resignation of some executive members of the previous leadership.
However, Mr Gombe, who was the party’s vice-national chairman among the former executives, rejected the arrangement, insisting he did not resign and should have automatically assumed leadership in line with the party’s constitution.
Following the development, he filed a suit at the Federal High Court seeking to stop members of Mr Mark’s group from parading themselves as party leaders and to compel INEC to recognise him instead.
Mr Mark’s camp challenged the case at the Court of Appeal, arguing that the lower court lacked jurisdiction over the matter. But the Appeal Court dismissed Mr Mark’s appeal and upheld the continuation of the case at the Federal High Court.
Reacting to the Appeal Court’s verdict on Wednesday, INEC said it would be obeying the Court of Appeal’s ruling, which dismissed Mr Mark’s appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court and ordered all parties to maintain the status quo to avoid undermining the ongoing case.
It urged all politicians involved to respect judicial processes and avoid actions that could disrupt preparations for the 2027 general elections.
“Accordingly, in order to protect the integrity of the proceedings and the eventual determination of the substantive suit pending before the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025,” the commission said, adding that parties involved “are hereby directed to maintain the status quo ante bellum and shall refrain from taking any step or doing any act capable of foisting a fait accompli on the court or otherwise rendering nugatory the proceedings before the trial court.”
cpcnews.org 