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Hours after Obi, Kwankwaso entrance, NDC under threat! *Faces legal challenge
Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), could face a major legal battle soon if the threat of Umar Ardo, promoter of the All Democratic Alliance (ADA), to challenge its registration becomes a reality.
After failing to get the platform registered as a political party, Ardo is threatening to take legal action against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to explain the reason for the registration of the party, which it claim was done under the table.
Maintaining that the process that saw the registration of the party was flawed and did not follow due process, the ADA promoter told Trust TV, that the legal action would also cover any other political party that, in his view, failed to meet statutory requirements but was still registered by the electoral body.
ADA, one of 171 political associations that applied to INEC for registration ahead of the 2027 general elections, failed to scale through the hurdle, after the electoral commission decided to register only two political parties in February 2026 – Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), which supposedly met the threshold and NDC, registered on the orders of the courts.
Joash Amupitan, Chairman of INEC, had said the associations were assessed in line with Sections 222 and 223 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Sections 75 and 79 of the Electoral Act 2022, and INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties.
Disagreeing with the commission that it did not meet the criteria others met to secure their registration, Ardo told his host: “The Nigerian Democratic Congress obtained registration without properly applying. It did not meet the requirements set by law or INEC guidelines. It is clearly irregular, and we will challenge it in court.
“ADA complied fully with INEC requirements, including payment of fees and submission of all necessary documentation. It had even been cleared for the next stage of verification before being denied registration. We fault the process that led to the NDC’s emergence. The party was neither part of the initial screening nor properly documented under INEC’s registration portal. INEC and the judiciary must be held accountable for the inconsistencies in the legal process that led to the registration.
“We are appealing the process. The NDC did not present the required documents before the court, yet judgment was given in its favour. We will proceed on appeal. ADA’s own court case compared to the speed at which the NDC secured its judgment. The disparity is concerning for electoral integrity.
“Our opposition to the NDC is not politically motivated. Our actions are based strictly on principle and a long history of legal activism. This is not about politics or personalities. I have challenged governments before, including past presidents. This is about due process. Any party registered outside established legal frameworks undermines public confidence in the electoral system. ADA will continue to pursue justice in court.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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