ADC, INEC and the road to 2027

By Jude Opara

While the nation continues to await the outcome of the leadership tussle which is already before the Supreme Court, the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) recently made good its resolve and held its national convention on April 13, despite the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the exercise.

INEC had on April 1st delisted ADC from its portal following the leadership dispute within the party. This was after the Court of Appeal while rejecting the appeal brought before it by the faction of the party led by former Senate President, David Mark asked the parties involved to maintain the status quo ante bellum.

In its reaction to the position of the Court, INEC decided to delist the party pending the determination of the substantive suit in the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Regretably, the once cohesive party became factionalized after its former National Deputy National Chairman, Nafiu Bala Gombe, on September 2nd went to the Federal High Court, demanding that he should be recognized as the National Chairman of the ADC.

Gombe’s  argument was that with the resignation of the former National Chairman, Chief Ralph Nwosu and members of his National Working Committee (NWC) to pave way for the leadership takeover by David and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as National Chairman and National Secretary respectively, he was supposed to assume the position of National Chairman of the party.

Gombe also denied that he had along the rest of the NWC members resigned his position, insisting that the document that went viral with his resignation was forged.

However INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan who has come under fire since the delisting of the ADC had explained that his Commission took the decision not to deal with any of the factions following requests also received from the lawyers representing Gombe, demanding that their client should be the one recognized as the leader of the party.

Nevertheless, this explanation seems not to have been accepted by many Nigerians, including lawyers who have said that what the Court of Appeal meant was that the leadership that existed before Gombe went to court should subsist.

Those who believe in this school of thought added that what INEC technically did was to have deregistered the ADC as a political party because nobody knows how long the litigation can last, adding that the preparations for the conduct of the 2027 elections have kicked off in ernest.

Similarly, the seeming extreme position of INEC on the matter was said to have been in contravention of the Electoral Act 2026 because the Section 83 of the Act has limited the role of court with internal matters of political parties.

Expectedly, the ADC is pointing finger at the APC and the federal government. The party believes that INEC is being manipulated by the government to help actualize the alleged one party state.

At the just national convention of the party, the opposition party while mocking the APC and its candidate for the 2027 presidential election, President Bola Tinubu said the ruling party is afraid of  free and fair elections, despite having a record 31 state governors and about 80% of members of the National Assembly.

While calling for the immediate resignation of Prof. Amupitan, the ADC claimed that they don’t trust that INEC under his leadership will be able to conduct a credible, free and fair election. Since then, the social media has been awash with several past tweets alleged to have been made by Prof. Amupitan directly and indirectly showing his support for President Tinubu during the election of 2023.

Unfortunately, the more the INEC boss continues to deny ownership of the said X (formerly Twitter) account, the more Nigerians are unearthing old tweets that tend to prove otherwise.

Certainly, the controversy that will emanate from this development will linger for a very long time to come. Many analysts believe that INEC was probably too eager to impress the government.

From the way the controversy is going, the 2027 presidential election is going to be shrouded in controversy because even if President Tinubu wins the election freely and fairly, the opposition will still suspect a foul play, analysts have said.

Accordding to them, the only way this can be managed is for INEC to begin to find a way to restore its confidence to the political class by being seen not to favour or work against any party. They emphasized that The body is supposed to be an unbiased umpire and it’s not a story when the referee is being accused of being in support of one of the parties.

From the look of things, the ADC is resolute in the quest to give the ruling party a good run for their money. With the successful conduct of the convention, the party has so far managed to position itself as a credible alternative to the APC, analysts have suggested.

The convention was expectedly a gathering of who is who in the party-from the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to former governor Peter Obi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Rotimi Amaechi, Liyel Imoke, Emeka Ihedioha and Aminu Tambuwal of Anambra, Kano, Rivers, Cross River, Imo and Sokoto states.

The convention also made bold statements which many believe were a direct message to the APC and President Tinubu that they are ready to take over government from them.

From the National Chairman, David Mark, the Secretary, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to former presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023, Peter Obi and Rotimi Amaechi, it was all messages of hope to the people, while castigating the APC for the state of the nation’s economy and security.

Also, the likes of Sen. Dino Melaye, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal and Engr. Buba Galadima were very critical of the APC administration in their separate remarks.

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar in his submission pointedly warned that the INEC Chairman will not get away with the alleged illegality. He said; “This is a struggle for all Nigerians. But I will not end these remarks without indicting the Chairman of INEC and INEC itself, because it is clear, it is obvious, the evidence is there. Now, INEC is being used to undermine democracy in this country. Let the federal government know that we fought the military to bring democracy in this country, and we are going to fight them to bring democracy in this country.

“Let the chairman know we are not going to let him get away with his illegalities. We will not. And I hope we will have your support and cooperation to make sure we return to true democracy, to true development in all aspects of human endeavour”.

Nevertheless, both the electoral body and the political class must ensure they play by the rules because what Nigerians from Sokoto to Owerri want is a free, fair and credible election that will usher in leaders who will be dedicated to nation building, according to analysts.