ADC Rejects Rival Faction’s Upload Claim As “Blatant Lie”
The battle for control of the African Democratic Congress spilled fully into the open on Monday, as the Atiku Abubakar wing of the party petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission to investigate what it called the forgery and unauthorised use of documents purportedly issued by the electoral body. The trigger was a claim by a rival group led by Nafiu Bala Gombe that it had uploaded the names of a presidential candidate and other nominees to the commission’s nomination portal.
The party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, dismissed that claim outright. In a statement issued on Monday, it argued that only the leadership recognised by INEC can access the nomination portal, and that the process had already been completed under that recognised leadership in line with the Electoral Act. Abdullahi described the reports as designed to sow confusion and mislead the public.
At the heart of the ADC’s argument is a point about how the commission’s systems work. “INEC does not issue nomination portal access or nomination codes to a leadership it does not recognise. Secondly, the Commission will not issue two codes to the same party. Otherwise, every impostor would simply upload names to the portal and proclaim themselves the authentic leadership of a political party. That is plainly not how the law or the Commission’s processes work,” the statement read. The party then challenged its rivals to produce proof, asking, “where is the evidence of this purported upload by a group of individuals not known by law or the electoral body?”
The dispute is rooted in a longer struggle over who legitimately leads the ADC, which has emerged as the main vehicle for the opposition coalition assembled ahead of the 2027 general election. The wing loyal to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar recognises former Senate President David Mark as national chairman. That faction confirmed a fortnight ago that it had uploaded the particulars of Atiku, its presidential candidate, and former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi, its running mate, to the INEC portal. INEC’s revised timetable had set the candidate nomination window for the period ending in mid-July, with parties issued access codes after a two-day training exercise on the use of the nomination portal.
Gombe, who styles himself national chairman of a parallel executive, announced on 11 July that his group had successfully submitted its own list. That announcement drew a sharp response from the Atiku Media Office, which accused the commission of partisanship and of aiding what it described as an agenda to weaken opposition parties. The office cited Section 222 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022, which require candidates to emerge through recognised primaries and limit each party to one validly nominated candidate per office, insisting that any parallel submission was null and void.
A senior INEC official, quoted by Leadership, appeared to lend weight to the recognised leadership’s position, stating that the commission deals only with party executives reflected in its official records. The official added that the commission would publish the names of parties and their nominees after the nomination exercise closed.
Reaffirming its stance, the ADC insisted it was not divided and would not be drawn off course. “As the election approaches, there will be repeated attempts to distract the party and mislead the public. We will not be distracted. Our focus remains firmly on presenting Nigerians with a credible alternative that can restore security, tackle the rising cost of living, revive the economy, create jobs, and return the country to the path of progress in 2027,” the statement said. It urged members, supporters and the media to rely only on official communications from its authorised channels.