INEC Affirms Mark Faction As ADC Files Full 2027 Ticket
A long running battle for control of the African Democratic Congress has entered its most consequential phase yet, with the Independent National Electoral Commission confirming that only nominees submitted by the leadership of Senator David Mark will stand on its ballot for the 2027 general election, even as a rival group insists it has uploaded its own list of candidates.
INEC National Commissioner Mohammed Kudu Haruna, who chairs the commission’s Information and Voter Education Committee, said the electoral body had granted portal access to the Mark leadership on the strength of the Supreme Court judgment that affirmed its standing, and that the faction had already submitted candidates for 471 positions. “Yes, we gave the Mark-led faction the code,” he said, listing the submissions as two presidential slots, 109 senatorial seats and 360 House of Representatives constituencies. He added that the rival group had no legal basis to nominate anyone, and that the commission’s records show only one recognised National Executive Committee.
The 471 figure places the ADC on the same footing as the ruling All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, both of which have reported full uploads of their presidential and National Assembly tickets. The commission had set a Saturday, July 11, 2026 deadline for the presidential and National Assembly uploads before shifting it, on a Sunday circular, to midnight on Tuesday, July 14. The ADC was among the earliest parties to complete the exercise, confirming that the particulars of its presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, had been entered.
The controversy that now trails the process stems from a claim by a factional national chairman, Nafiu Bala Gombe, that his group secured the commission’s access code and uploaded its own presidential and National Assembly candidates. Images bearing INEC’s logo circulated on social media over the weekend in support of the claim. The commission has firmly rejected it. Its Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, said Bala is not recognised as the party’s chairman, while a senior official insisted the commission never issued him any code. “INEC did not give access codes to Nafiu Gombe,” the official said, noting that the commission’s public register lists David Mark as National Chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary.
The dispute drew in the ADC presidential candidate directly. In a statement issued by his media office, Atiku accused the commission of granting Gombe portal access despite recognising the Mark leadership, and alleged that INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, was fuelling crises within opposition parties to advance President Bola Tinubu’s interests. The commission described the allegations as baseless, maintaining that it acted within the Constitution, the Electoral Act and its own guidelines.
The Mark leadership, through its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, has gone further, asking that the matter be treated as a criminal one. The party called the claim “a blatant lie,” arguing that INEC does not issue codes to a leadership it does not recognise and cannot hand two codes to the same party. It urged the commission to invite security agencies, insisting that anyone who forged or circulated documents bearing INEC’s identity should be investigated and prosecuted.
Layered over the portal quarrel is a fresh court ruling that has once again unsettled the party. On Monday, a three member panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, in a split decision of two to one, upheld an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court that restrained INEC from recognising state congresses conducted by committees set up by the Mark leadership. That earlier decision, delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on April 29, held that the dissolution of elected state executives whose tenure was still running breached the ADC constitution. The appellate court found no reason to disturb it.
The ADC has drawn a careful line around that verdict. Abdullahi said the ruling touched only on ward, local government and state congresses, and had no bearing on the direct primaries that produced the party’s candidates for elective office. INEC, for its part, maintained that its recognition of the Mark leadership and the nominations already filed rested on the Supreme Court judgment, which predates the appeal.
To understand how a single party arrived at two chairmen and two claims to a nomination portal, the roots of the crisis matter. The ADC, first registered in 2006 and long a minor player, was adopted in 2025 as the platform for a broad coalition of opposition figures preparing for 2027. Its founding chairman, Ralph Nwosu, handed over leadership at a stakeholders’ meeting on July 2, 2025, and a National Executive Committee meeting on July 29, 2025 ratified Mark and Aregbesola as chairman and secretary under INEC’s supervision. That transition split the party and set off a chain of suits.
Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former national vice chairman, went to the Federal High Court arguing that he was the rightful leader following the resignation of the old executives. The Court of Appeal at one stage ordered all parties to maintain the status quo, prompting INEC to withdraw its recognition of the Mark camp. That order was voided on April 30, 2026, when a five member panel of the Supreme Court unanimously set it aside, restored the Mark leadership to INEC’s records and returned the substantive dispute to the Federal High Court. On July 3, 2026, Justice Musa Liman dismissed a separate challenge by lawmaker Leke Abejide, affirming that the July 2025 leadership transition complied with the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act, and awarding heavy costs against the plaintiff and his counsel.
The stakes are considerable. Since the coalition took over, the ADC has grown into the country’s most prominent opposition platform, with the second highest number of federal legislators and a roster of heavyweight figures that has included Atiku, Amaechi, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Aregbesola, though the alliance has not been free of exits and realignments. Nwosu has repeatedly framed the party’s participation as existential, arguing that the opposition already commands the numbers to unseat the APC at the centre.
For now, the practical questions turn on paperwork and timing. INEC has said it will not take a formal position on Monday’s appeal judgment until it obtains and studies the Certified True Copy, with Haruna indicating the document was expected within roughly 48 hours. The commission is expected to publish the full list of parties and their nominees once the nomination window closes. Whether the appellate ruling on congresses eventually reaches back to touch the candidate list, and whether the forgery allegation moves from press statements to a formal inquiry, are the threads that will decide how cleanly the ADC enters the 2027 contest.