ADC accuses INEC of misinterpreting court order, demands chairman’s removal amidst growing leadership crisis

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has launched a fierce attack on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), accusing the electoral body of misinterpreting a Court of Appeal directive to maintain the status quo ante bellum and using it as a pretext to unlawfully strip the party’s leadership under Senator David Mark of recognition, a charge INEC and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have firmly rejected.

The controversy follows INEC’s announcement that it had delisted several ADC leaders from its official portal, including Mark as National Chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary. The commission explained that its decision was based on a court directive to preserve the status quo pending the resolution of an ongoing legal dispute.

Mark criticised INEC’s interpretation of that directive, accusing the commission of effectively creating a leadership vacuum within the party. According to Mark, if there was any ambiguity in the court’s order, INEC should have sought clarification rather than acting unilaterally. He alleged that the commission’s actions demonstrate bias and amount to interference in the internal affairs of a political party.

ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Abdullahi, went further, alleging that the commission was recognising moves by factional claimant Nafiu Bala despite being aware of his prior resignation from the party’s National Working Committee. He argued that Bala no longer has legal standing to act on behalf of the party. “If you are talking about contempt, that is what INEC has done. INEC, today, is behaving like a criminal organisation. And what the Court of Appeal said is to maintain status quo,” he said.

The ADC also traced the origin of the crisis to a letter sent to INEC. In a letter dated March 28, 2026, a team of Senior Advocates of Nigeria asked INEC to enforce what the ADC described as “a curious and peculiar interpretation” of the Court of Appeal ruling regarding what constitutes status quo ante bellum. The ADC alleged that the letter’s authors even threatened the INEC chairman with arrest if he did not comply within seven days. “They want INEC to invalidate party meetings, remove recognised officials, and hand over the affairs of the party to a specific individual, even though the case itself has not been fully decided by the courts,” Abdullahi said.

The ADC also insisted that Nafiu Bala was never legitimately the ADC chairman, noting that he had earlier resigned his position alongside other members of the National Working Committee and has since been expelled from the party. “Therefore, any attempt to recreate a ‘status quo’ that upgrades his position to National Chairman of the ADC at any point in time is, at best, fictitious,” the party said.

The ADC chairman warned that the situation could affect the party’s participation in upcoming elections in Osun and Ekiti states, as well as its scheduled congresses and national convention in April 2026.

INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan, however, defended the commission’s position and issued a stark warning. Speaking on Arise News, Amupitan warned that if the ADC proceeded with its planned congresses and convention in defiance of the court order, it risked the same fate as Zamfara State in a past electoral crisis, where a court nullified election results and declared the candidate with the second-highest number of votes the winner.

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The APC also weighed in on the dispute. At a news conference in Abuja, APC National Secretary Senator Ajibola Basiru dismissed the ADC’s accusations of conspiracy involving President Tinubu as “baseless, misleading, and a desperate attempt to deflect from internal crises.” He maintained that INEC acted in strict compliance with the Court of Appeal’s ruling, which dismissed Mark’s faction’s appeal as incompetent and ordered all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum pending the determination of the substantive case.

Not all observers have sided entirely with the ADC. Legal commentator Oshoma noted: “If we blame INEC we should also blame ADC. It is very convenient to say INEC is trying to play safe, but the court did not ask INEC to play safe. The court just told parties to maintain status quo.”

Despite the standoff, ADC leaders in at least one state, Adamawa, have defied INEC’s position, mobilising members to proceed with the party’s scheduled congresses on Saturday. In Benue State, party stakeholders who gathered in Otukpo on Thursday also vowed to challenge INEC’s decision through lawful means while pressing ahead with their planned convention, accusing the commission of aligning with the ruling party to weaken opposition voices and push Nigeria toward a one-party system ahead of the 2027 elections.

The underlying leadership dispute stems from competing claims over who legitimately heads the ADC following the resignation of former chairman Ralph Nwosu, whose tenure formally expired in August 2022. The case remains pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja.