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BREAKING: INEC can’t stop us – ADC *Vows to go ahead with congresses
The African Democratic Congress (ADC), on Thursday, vowed to go ahead with its national congresses and convention scheduled for this month, regardless the de-recognition of the leadership of the David Mark leadership that has been conducting its affairs since last year.
Bolaji Abdullahi, its spokesman, said the party had before now notified the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that its congresses would commence on April 9, saying there was no question of backing down.
A guest of The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS Television, the ADC spokesman, made the declaration against the backdrop of the commission’s decision to de-recognise the Mark leadership.
INEC, in a statement, on Wednesday, signed by Mohammed Kudu, Commissioner, Information and Voter Education, had explained that based on the review of the decision of the Court of Appeal judgment on March 12 this year regarding the case, brought by Rafiu Bala Gombe, claiming to be the authentic leader, it had decided not to deal with either side of the factions.
The appellate court had ordered the party to maintain the status quo ante belum pending the decision of the Federal High Court, a decision the commission interpreted as not having any further dealings with the two parties, leading to the removal of the names of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as National Chairman and Secretary, respectively from its portal.
But Abdullahi, told his host on Thursday that the commission deliberately misinterpreted the appellate court’s order as a way of achieving a pre-determined goal of ensuring that President Bola Tinubu had no challenger in the 2027 election.
Maintaining the earlier position of the party that Gombe had resigned as an executive of the party in May last year, he said he had no locus to take the party to court and therefore could not be regarded as a faction.
He said: “The most important point today is that all this is part of an orchestration of the ruling party to distabilise the opposition. And it is very clear. Why is all these escalating few days after receiving Rabiu Kwankwaso in our party. We all know what is going on.
“We don’t have an internal problem. The problem we have is the problem orchestrated by the ruling party. The issue is that today, INEC has been bamboozled, INEC has been intimidated, INEC has succumbed to intimidation and they are determined to coronate President Bola Tinubu.
“As at today, we don’t trust INEC. INEC has shown that it is biased and that it is partisan and we’re going to respond appropriately. They said they’re not going to monitor or our congresses.
“One thing we are forgetting is that Ekiti election is coming, Osun election is coming. By derecognising the ADC, you are rendering it impossible to participate in those elections.
“INEC brought a timeline. It’s difficult to meet. We’ve served them a 21-day notice that our congresses start on April 9th. Now, by truncating the leadership of the ADC, they’re also disrupting the process.
“So, you can see where all this is going. If those processes are not completed, we’ll not be in a position to go to election in 2027. That’s why I say it’s a coronation process that they’re planning. When we keep saying that there is a plan to make President Bola Tinubu the only candidate on the ballot in 2027, people think we’re being hysteric. They think we are just bandying conspiracy theories.
“All this points to INEC trying to create a chaos. Now, asking people to go and vote is difficult enough. Now asking every single person that has a voter’s card to go to their polling units to revalidate those cards few months to the election is plain anarchy.
“It is sounding uncomfortably familiar. It is only that the democratic contest is what is making it look strange. If we are in a military rule, we can understand it. But we have found ourselves in a situation where everything is being done to ensure that the election in 2027 is a fair accompli and that Nigerians will be left with no option or no choice. But we have seen how this ended in the past.
“So, we’re saying, we’ll go ahead with our congresses. We had given INEC the notice, they had accepted the notice. So, whether they come or not, we’ll continue with our congresses, we’ll continue with our convention.”
Maintaining that INEC had no basis to toe the line it had decided, he argued that Nafiu Gombe, was being sponsored to disrupt the process, tracing the various developments that rendered his claim to the leadership of the party a non-issue.
His words: “Let me answer the fundamental question that as at the time the coalition was joining the ADC, Nafiu Gombe, was an official of the ADC. The answer is no! He resigned his position, May 17 as one of the six Deputy Chairmen, and INEC was duly notified.
“On August 12, 2025, INEC received a notice. So, INEC knows that as at May, 2025, Nafiu Gombe was no longer an official of the African Democratic Congress. But that is a different matter.
“But the most important point is that the Court of Appeal made a ruling and the summary of the consequential part of the ruling is that status quo ante belum be maintained. Now, this is the crux of the matter. Nafiu Gombe’s lawyers are interpreting it to mean the state of things before he went to court on September 2nd.
“But this is not the correct representation of what happened. On July 29th ADC had a NEC meeting in Abuja, attended by INEC. And in that NEC meeting, one of the resolutions was dissolution the National Working Committee. It was on the basis of that that INEC recognised David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola and uploaded it on its website.
“Now if the Court of Appeal is say go back to the status quo, Nafiu Gombe went to court on September 2nd. This NEC meeting happened on 29th of July and he went to court on second of September, INEC is now saying, our recognition of David Mark came on the 9th of September. That’s after he had gone to court.
“But that is an administrative issue. Whether you recognised it in 2026 or 2025 does not matter. The action was taken on July 29th and concluded. INEC knew about it and it was on that basis that INEC acted.
“To say that status quo ante belum was on the 9th of September is dubious and it is contrary to what the Court of Appeal ruled. Now let us even assume that we go back to the status quo before even David Mark, at the time NEC took the decision, ADC had leadership. So, if we must go further back, it means that Ralph Nwosu is the Chairman of ADC.
“So, the court would not have envisaged a situation where ADC, according to INEC did not have a leadership. What INEC has done effectively is to violate the directives of the appeal court. And that is criminal. INEC today is behaving like a criminal organisation.
Legal fireworks will resume before Emeka Nwite, at the Federal High Court, Abuja on Tuesday, April 14 in the attempt by Nafiu Bala Gombe, to take over the leadership of African Democratic Congress (ADC), from David Mark, previously recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Recall that it is against the backdrop that the ADC is currently without any leadership based on the interpretation of the electoral body of the decision of the Court of Appeal, directing all parties in the dispute to maintain status quo ante bellum in the matter.
The commission, had a fortnight ago, stripped Mark and Rauf Aregbesola of recognition, as National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively on this account, marking a new turn in the legal issue which erupted after Gombe, former National Vice Chairman, began laying claim to Mark’s position.
His contention, in a suit brought before the court, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, listing Mark, Aregbesola INEC, and Ralph Nwosu, the party’s founder and former National Chairman, as defendants, was that having not resigned his position, he ought to have assumed the office after Nwosu’s resignation, in line with the constitution of the party.
Having subsequently pronouncing himself National Chairman, had in the suit, filed on September 2, 2025, sought to restrain INEC from recognising National Working Committee (NWK), led by Mark, a former Senate President.
Based on Gombe’s suit ex-parte, which also sought to stop the party from holding meetings, congresses, or conventions pending the determination of the suit, Nwite, had directed Mark, INEC and others to be put on notice to show cause why the motion should not be granted.
But Mark, unhappy with the decision, had rushed to the appellate court to determine the jurisdiction on Nwite to interfere with the matter, leading to the decision on March 12, 2026, as the court ordered him to return to the lower court, having failed to obtain its leave to file the appeal.
The decision of INEC, which came via a statement on April 1, not to recognise either Mark or Gombe, not only left the ADC in a limbo, but thrown a serious anxiety within the Nigerian polity, leading to a massive protest by the party and supporters, who it as part of their suspicion of a plot by President Bola Tinubu to foist a one-party state in Nigeria by killing all the strong oppositions.
In a motion filed on April 7 by Sulaiman Usman, (SAN), seeking an accelerated hearing of the case, Mark, also urged the lower court to compel INEC to restore his name and that of other members and recognise them as members of the party’s NWC,
Backed with a preliminary objection challenging the competence of the suit, he also argued that Bala lacked the locus standi to institute the action, having resigned his position as national vice-chairman of the party.
President Bola Tinubu on Friday, told Nigerians to take a look at the situation in neighbouring countries to ascertain what true suffering really means, insisting that he has made the country better for everybody.
The President, who spoke against the backdrop of the massive groaning in the country, was particular about the hardship occasioned by the cost of petroleum products, made so by the conflict in the Middle East, where Iran is facing attacks from Israel and the United States.
Urging for patience among the people, Tinubu, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, where he inaugurated some projects, said: “I hear you from various angles of the economy. The fuel price is biting hard, but look around, let’s just thank God together that you are better off
“Listen to them in Kenya, in other African countries, what they are going through. We will not look back. We will continue to find ways to ameliorate the suffering of the vulnerable. This is a government that cares.
“I am glad the Head of Service is here. Look at the numbers with the finance, economic planning, and budgeting, and we will see what we can do to ease the burden.
“But that is the development; the burden of it is what we are facing today. The challenge of the war we didn’t call for, but the effect of the interrelated world that we share. Both the joy and pain of it are universal.”
The President’s position came on the heels of another sharp rise in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), now put at close to N1, 400 per litre from the about N870 before the hostilities in the Iran, which led to major difficulties in the operation of global oil industry.
The situation was particularly worsened by the decision of Iran to restrict the movement of vessels carrying crude through the strait of Houmous, a major transit hob for the commodity to various parts of the world.
Nafiu Bala Gombe, the man on whose behalf the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is currently in a prostrate state, has admitted to getting outside help in prosecuting his legal matters against the David Mark camp.
Recall that Mark, former Senate President and Rauf Aregbesola were, last week, derecognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and had their names struck out based on the case filed by Gombe on September 2, 2025.
The commission had relied on the pronouncement of the Court of Appeal, which ordered parties in the case to maintain status quo ante bellum, which it interpreted 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, had accused the former Deputy Chairman 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.
Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the Mark camp, had last week, stated this much when he wondered how Gombe, who 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, which would probably run into tens of millions of naira.
Reacting on Tuesday, 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 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 light weights. 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 people. 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.”
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