ADC rejects INEC’s action on Mark-led NWC
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) yesterday rejected the withdrawal of recognition for the David Mark-led National Working Committee (NWC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The opposition party called
- Party seeks dissolution of INEC
- Electoral agency defends decision
- By Dele Anofi, Tony Akowe, Idris Abdulsalam, Jide Orintunsin,
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) yesterday rejected the withdrawal of recognition for the David Mark-led National Working Committee (NWC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The opposition party called for the dissolution of the electoral commission, saying that it is biased.
It also vowed to proceed with preparations for the proposed National Convention scheduled for Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on April 14.
ADC Interim National Chairman Senator David Mark said INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan and other national commissioners should resign, stressing that the party no longer had confidence in them.
He attributed the withdrawal of recognition, pending the outcome of ongoing court cases over party leadership, to the antics of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mark, who spoke with reporters in Abuja, alleged that INEC had taken sides, describing the sanction as unlawful and a threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
But INEC dismissed the allegation against it and the call for its chairman to resign, saying there is a constitutional provision for the removal of an INEC chairman.
Similarly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, faulted the insinuation that the withdrawal was instigated by the ruling party.
He said the ruling party is not involved, stressing that it has never meddled in the activities of the commission.
Following the outbursts of rival ADC groups who have taken contrasting positions on the removal of Mark’s and Aregbesola’s names from the commission’s website, security were beefed-up yesterday around INEC headquarters in Maitama Area, Abuja.
INEC should be dissolved, says Mark
Mark insisted that only the resignation of Amupitan and other national commissioners can restore public confidence in the electoral body.
With him at the press briefing were former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, Interim National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and other party leaders.
Chiding INEC for alleged partiality, Mark said: “There is only one conclusion that Nigerians can draw from the April 1 action taken by INEC; the electoral umpire has taken sides. It can no longer be trusted.
“We demand the immediate resignation or sack of the INEC Chairman, Professor Amupitan, and all the National Commissioners. We no longer have confidence in them. We are convinced that they are incapable of conducting any credible election.”
He added: “Let us also make it clear. We are proceeding with our party programmes, because there is nothing under the law that makes INEC’s attendance a mandatory requirement. We have duly served INEC notice, and we will proceed accordingly.”
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Mark said the action of INEC was prompted by factors beyond intra-party matter.
He said: “It is not the ADC that is under attack. This is a direct assault on Nigeria’s democracy and the right of Nigerians to choose, participate, and exercise their rights as free citizens.”
Mark raised the alarm that democracy is under strain, warning that restrictions on fundamental freedoms were eroding democratic experience.
He stressed: “Democracy is only sustained by the quality of freedom that it offers and guarantees. Without them, democracy dies.”
The interim chairman also alleged that recent developments pointed to a deliberate attempt to weaken opposition parties ahead of next year’s elections.
He said: “The agenda is very clear; to create a situation where, in 2027, President Bola Tinubu emerges as the only option left for the people.”
Mark traced the evolution of the current ADC leadership to a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held on July 29, 2025, which was monitored by INEC.
He recalled that a caretaker committee was set up during the meeting, adding that the resolutions were duly communicated to the commission, which subsequently uploaded the names of the new National Working Committee (NWC) members.
Mark, who maintained that there was no ambiguity about the party leadership, said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the leadership of ADC inaugurated at the 29th July 2025, NEC meeting remains the lawful leaders of the party”.
He also dismissed claims by Nafiu Bala, a former deputy national chairman, saying that the he had resigned before approaching the court.
Mark said: “There are no competing claims on the leadership of the ADC. Nafiu Bala has no locus standi.”
The chairman rejected the INEC’S interpretation of the Court of Appeal order directing parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum, saying that “INEC has invented a status quo that never existed.”
He added: “What INEC has done is to create a situation that leaves the ADC without leadership.”
Mark said the commission should have sought judicial clarification instead of acting unilaterally, adding: “While posturing to be neutral, its actions confirm that it has become irredeemably partisan.”
He stressed: “It is important to state the net implications of this decision taken by INEC, in case they had not thought of it, or they just do not care.
“First, by attempting to subvert the leadership of the ADC, INEC has already undermined our participation in the Osun and Ekiti elections taking place later this year.
“Secondly, we have our congresses starting on the 9th of April, 2026, ending with our convention on the 14th of April, 2026. We have given due notice to INEC, and they have acknowledged receipt of that notice. This is what the law requires of us.
“Let us sound a note of warning. This INEC under Professor Joash Amupitan will be held directly responsible for whatever actions or reactions that follow this criminal path that it has chosen to take.”
Urging party members to remain calm, Mark said Nigerians and the international community to remain vigilant.
He added: “This is a defining moment, stand firm, speak out, participate and resist any attempt to impose a one-party state on Nigeria.”
Atiku: INEC is partisan
Atiku said the commission is partisan, adding that its lack of neutrality poses a grave danger to democracy.
He echoed Mark’s position that any attempt to undermine democracy through partisanship would be resisted.
Atiku warned that authoritarian tendencies, no matter how entrenched, are ultimately short-lived.
He called for adherence to democratic principles, transparency, and neutrality in the conduct of elections, stressing that the credibility of the democratic system should be protected.
APC distances self
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed allegations of interference in the internal crisis rocking the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), describing the derecognition of the party’s leadership by INEC as a “self-inflicted” wound.
The ruling party’s reaction follows INEC’s decision to remove the names of former Senate President Mark and former Interior Minister Aregbesola from its official portal, where they were previously listed as the opposition party’s National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively.
Distancing the party from the plight of ADC during a television interview, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka maintained that the governing party is too focused on its own internal preparations to orchestrate the downfall of rival factions.
“As I’ve always maintained, we are only concerned about our level of preparation and the effort we are making. We’re concerned about ourselves,” Morka stated. “It is the opposition that is obsessed about what APC does.”
Morka argued further during the programme that the current crisis consuming the opposition party was manufactured from within, stemming from a disregard for the party’s own legal framework.
According to the APC spokesperson, the crisis was an inevitable consequence of what he described as a “hijack” of the ADC structure by individuals who bypassed established constitutional protocols.
“Even the most recent development that everyone is talking about—the INEC decision to derecognize the David Mark executive—that was utterly self-inflicted. APC did not do that,” Morka insisted. “APC did not orchestrate the hijack of the ADC by that executive; we didn’t.”
He, however, explained that the removal of the leaders was a matter of the rule of law catching up with political expediency.
Kachikwu: INEC is right
However, 2023 ADC presidential candidate Dumebi Kachikwu said the withdrawal of recognition is right, adding that the protracted crisis in the party is fueled by interests.
Describing the withdrawal as the latest phase of the protracted dispute, he traced the conflict to the expiration of the tenure of former national chairman, Ralph Nwosu.
He told reporters in Abuja that following the expiration, subsequent actions taken in the name of the party lacked legitimacy.
Kachikwu said: “Ralph Nwosu, whose tenure lapsed on the 21st of August 2022, sold the ADC to men who had destroyed their parties.”
He insisted that the dispute reflects a broader pattern of political actors moving across parties without ideological alignment.
Kachikwu stressed: “Jumping from political party to political party, no ideology, no belief system, standing for nothing.”
He questioned the decision by political actors to align with the ADC, despite ongoing legal disputes surrounding its leadership.
Kachikwu added: “These men knew that there were myriad issues plaguing the ADC, yet they came.”
He alleged that some actors have conspire with the APC to weaken opposition platforms ahead of future elections.
He said: “The only possible explanation is that there is a conspiracy to make a fool of us all. What we have here is that Atiku and his co-travelers have paved the way for a smooth run for President Tinubu.
“Forms that were hitherto sold for N50,000 would now be sold for N500,000, all in a bid to disenfranchise the poor party faithful.
“The actions of these men have rendered any political aspiration to the ADC a non-starter.”
On the legal dispute, Kachikwu argued that references to the resignation of party officials in 2025 are misplaced, insisting that the leadership structure had already ceased to exist years earlier.
He said: “Why are we talking about resignation in 2025? That does not make sense, you can’t build something on nothing.”
He also questioned INEC’s handling of the matter, noting that previous court orders relating to the party were not enforced.
Kachikwu said: “The same INEC had several court orders concerning the ADC since 2022, but didn’t recognise any of them.”
He said the antecedents of actors behind the “hijack” of the ADC are well known to Nigerians.
Kachikwu added: “I will pick President Tinubu above those people because up till now, none of them has said what they would do differently from what President Tinubu is doing.
“I had long warned that the take over of ADC by the coalition was a bad market. These are individuals who have held sway over the affairs of the country for decades, yet continue to move from one party to another without a clear ideology or belief system.
“What we have here is that they came into the ADC to stop people like me from running but my plan is to run on the platform of the ADC, but we can all see the obstacles before me.”
Kachikwu said the ADC crisis does not signals a drift towards a one-party state, noting that other political parties are available to Nigerians.
He stressed: “There are many parties, PDP, Labour Party, NNPP, SDP, APGA and others, so the issue is not about the absence of alternatives.”
Security beef-up around INEC office
Security was beefed-up around INEC headquarters to prevent possible clashes between rival groups of supporters within the ADC.
A combined team of Nigeria Army, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC and the Department Security Service, SSS, were stationed at all entrances.
The security personnel monitored developments within the area while restricting access to the premises.
There had been mass mobilisation on social media under the hashtag #OccupyINEC.
A group, “Concerned Nigeria Youth Forum,” had stormed the commission in solidarity with the decision to remove the names of Mark and Aregbesola from the INEC website.
The youths who carried a large banner with the inscription: “For a Credible Process in the Best Interest of Nigeria,” urged INEC to uphold its commitment to fair elections.
‘Atiku’s ambition fueling one-party system’
APC chieftain, Osita Okechukwu, said Atiku’s ambition is inadvertently aiding the emergence of a one-party state.
The former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) said in a statement in Abuja that the ambition of the former Vice President violates zoning.He said:.“Atiku’s declaration has laid bare the real problem of a foremost opposition held hostage by personal ambition, where no one is willing to neither yield ground for the collective good nor obey the zoning convention.
“Methinks that as an octogenarian and elder statesman, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar should help build the consensus of a Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso presidential ticket to make the 2027 presidential election robust and credible.
“The strength of the APC lies not merely in incumbency, but in the inability of opposition parties to put their acts together,” he retorted. “The real danger to Nigeria’s democracy is not dominance by one party, but the reckless dysfunction of those who should provide balance.”
PRP woos Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso, others
The People’s Redemption Party (PRP) urged Atiku, Obi, and Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso to defect to the party.
Lagos PRP Chairman, Mr James Adeshina said: “Nigeria’s political landscape is once again witnessing turbulence—this time within the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
“What should have been a strong alternative platform is now entangled in internal disputes, leadership struggles, and uncertainty.
“This development is not just unfortunate; it is a stark reminder of a deeper problem within opposition politics in Nigeria—fragmentation.
“At a time when the nation urgently needs a strong, united front to safeguard democracy, internal crises like the one in ADC only weaken the collective ability of opposition forces to provide credible alternatives.
“The consequences are far-reaching: it creates room for unchecked dominance and fuels the growing fear of Nigeria sliding toward a one-party state.”
