By Desire Emmanuel
Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, July 13, took a swipe at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), accusing it of aiding the agenda of President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to disenfranchise the ADC and other opposition parties in the country.
Atiku stated this in a statement by his media office while reacting to the successful uploading of the names of the candidates of another faction of the party led by Nafiu Gombe on the portal of the commission.
Atiku said by granting the faction access to its portal, the electoral umpire has once again manifested its partisanship in the electoral process.
He stated: “On 11 July 2026, Nafiu Bala Gombe who parades himself as National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) issued a statement that he has succeeded in uploading the names of his candidates on the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“The uploading of the names of candidates on INEC portal is part of the process of the 2027 General Election made possible by the granting of access codes to political parties in line with the umpire’s guidelines.
“Meanwhile, INEC has been mum, and has not denied or confirmed this obvious contradiction to the law and its own guidelines.
“By granting access code to Bala Gombe, a pretender, laying claims to the chairmanship of the ADC, though the law is not on his side and INEC has since validated the chairmanship of the Senator David Mark-led exco, the electoral umpire is once again manifesting its partisanship.
“This was the same thing that the Professor Joash Amupitan-led INEC did when it illegally removed the names of the duly recognised ADC exco following the judicial rascality of Justice Lifu in ignoring a superior ruling of an appelate court.
“The so-called ‘successful’ uploading of ‘candidates’ by Nafiu Bala Gombe is neither grounded in law or supported by INEC’s own guidelines. Nafiu Bala Gombe is not recognised as ADC Chairman. Mark is duly recognised. Can there be two recognised chairmen of a political party? Possibly only in an INEC led by Amupitan. Can INEC grant two access codes to a political party? Certainly not.
“What INEC has done is a recipe for crisis and confirms that Professor Joash Amupitan was appointed to enable the weakening of the opposition parties by creating crisis even where none exists.
“We wish to remind Professor Joash Amupitan’s INEC that Section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) provides that candidates of a political party must emerge through recognised party primaries supervised by INEC.
“Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022 (as amended) stipulates that political parties must conduct primaries and submit only one validly nominated candidate per elective office to INEC. Nafiu Bala Gombe and his criminal gang did not conduct any primaries.
“The INEC granting of access code to Nafiu Bala Gombe is unconstitutional and unlawful. The only submitted candidates known to the law are those of David Mark. Any parallel submission such as Nafiu Bala Gombe’s is null and void.
“Professor Joash Amupitan should quit fomenting crisis in the ADC and the other opposition parties and by so doing helping President Bola Tinubu’s agenda of total state capture.”
