The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it will comply with whatever the courts finally decide on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s eligibility to run for president in 2027 on the platform of the African Democratic Congress. Its chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, gave the assurance at a dialogue on Nigeria’s 2027 elections held at Chatham House in London, where he said the commission was bound by the Constitution to obey court orders, especially those of the Supreme Court.
Amupitan, answering a question on whether Atiku could still fly the ADC flag if the ruling against the faction led by former Senate President David Mark stood, pointed to Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution. He said that if Atiku eventually failed in court, the commission would have no choice but to abide by the outcome. He acknowledged that INEC would draw criticism for implementing such decisions, yet remained legally obliged to carry them out.
The assurance comes at a delicate moment for the opposition. On 5 November, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja nullified the Mark-led caretaker leadership of the ADC, holding that the process which produced it breached the party’s constitution. The court went further, voiding decisions taken under that leadership, including the primary that produced Atiku as the party’s presidential candidate and the emergence of former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola as national secretary. Every nomination made for the 2027 elections under the disputed executive was struck down in the same judgment.
The suit was filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former deputy national chairman of the ADC for the North East, who challenged how Mark and others took charge of the party after the resignation of the former national chairman, Ralph Nwosu, and other officers. Justice Lifu upheld Gombe’s claim and dismissed 27 preliminary motions by the Mark camp as lacking merit.
The ADC has rejected the verdict and is heading to the Court of Appeal. Its national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, insists that Gombe resigned voluntarily and that the party holds the original letter bearing his signature, a position the court found unconvincing. The party also leans on an earlier ruling by Justice Musa Liman of the same court, which affirmed the Mark-led leadership and directed INEC to recognise it, arguing that one judge of coordinate jurisdiction cannot overturn another.
For its part, INEC has said it will take no step until it receives and studies the certified copy of the judgment. Amupitan has repeatedly stressed that the commission acts only on verified court documents and not on reports circulating online. He disclosed that when the leadership dispute first broke in April, INEC had pushed for it to be settled within three weeks to protect its preparations, but complied with a directive to hold off while the case went on appeal.
The timing leaves little room to manoeuvre. INEC has fixed 16 January 2027 for the presidential and National Assembly elections, leaving roughly two months for the courts to resolve a question that strikes at the heart of the main opposition’s campaign. Amupitan said the commission had already begun procuring sensitive materials for the polls while carrying more than 300 pending court cases, a load he described as a drag on planning. He called for reforms that would require pre-election disputes to be settled between six months and one year before voting.
The crisis sharpens an irony in the present contest. Atiku and the ADC are themselves pursuing a separate suit that questions President Bola Tinubu’s qualification to seek re-election, even as a court has now cast doubt on Atiku’s own place on the ballot. Amupitan has said he will act on any order concerning the president only when he is formally served.
What happens next rests largely with the appellate courts. Should the Court of Appeal, or ultimately the Supreme Court, uphold Justice Lifu’s ruling, the ADC may be forced to rebuild its leadership and repeat the nominations that produced Atiku and his running mate, Rotimi Amaechi. Should it be overturned, the candidacy stands. Either way, Amupitan’s message is that the commission intends to follow the courts, not lead them.