The African Democratic Congress’s (ADC) rival factions have brought the fight for the party’s leadership to the Independent National Electoral Commission, as the Nafiu Bala-led group aims to seize control.
Bala wrote to INEC, seeking the commission to remove former Senate President David Mark and ex-Minister Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola from their positions as party chairman and secretary, respectively.
This comes after Mark’s appeal was denied against the verdict of Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja in a suit filed by Bala against the ADC national chairman.
Bala, the ADC’s former deputy national chairman, has been contesting the present party leadership, saying that he was intended to be the national chairman following the resignation of the former chairman, Ralph Nwosu.
However, on September 4, 2025, Justice Nwite denied an ex parte plea brought by Bala, who sought a court order requiring INEC to de-recognise Mark and Aregbesola as the new party leaders.
The judge also ordered Mark and Aregbesola to show cause why the injunction should not be granted, thus putting them on notice to respond to the application.
Mark, dissatisfied with the result, filed a notice of appeal on September 18, 2025, opposing it on many legal grounds, including a lack of jurisdiction.
However, on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal dismissed Mark’s appeal, CA/ABJ/145/2026, as procedurally incompetent since it was filed against an interlocutory directive without first obtaining the appropriate leave of court.
The appellate court, led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, ordered the parties to retain the status quo pending the outcome of the substantive litigation before the Federal High Court.
It was gathered that following the pronouncement of the Court of Appeal, Bala approached INEC to recognize him as the national chairman of the ADC.
Bala, in a letter to INEC from his attorney, Robert Emukpoeruo (SAN), urged the commission to uphold the Court of Appeal’s ruling and stop recognizing Mark’s and Aregbesola’s leadership.
In the letter, dated March 16, Emukpoeruo quoted the Court of Appeal’s statement, which reads, “That the parties are hereby directed to maintain the status quo ante bellum and shall refrain from taking any step or doing any act capable of foisting a fait accompli on the court or otherwise rendering nugatory the proceedings before the trial court.”
Emukpoeruo contended that the court’s orders are divided into two parts: one directing the maintenance of the status quo and another limiting any measures that could result in a fait accompli or render proceedings before the trial court nugatory.
He asked party members to keep calm, follow the law, and be devoted to the ADC’s values and progress.
It was discovered that a legal practitioner, Dr. Sulaimon Usman (SAN), of Gamzaki Law Chambers in Abuja, had written to INEC to deny Bala’s claim, advising the commission not to accept the prayers sought.
Usman, in a letter dated March 16, 2026, said, “In the present circumstances, it would be consistent with the principles of constitutional order, judicial comity, and sound administrative prudence for the commission to refrain from recognizing or acting upon any representation seeking to install or recognize any person as acting national chairman of the party pending the determination of the suit before the Federal High Court.
“This is particularly important given that the party presently operates under an existing leadership structure that emerged from the NEC meeting monitored by the Commission on July 29, 2025, and which remains the subsisting structure pending the determination of the court proceedings.”
Meanwhile, Abdullahi claimed that certain forces in the presidency and the APC were putting pressure on INEC to deregister Mark-led National Working Committee members so that Tinubu could take over the party’s structure.
According to him, the game plan is to prevent the ADC from producing a presidential candidate, allowing Tinubu to run unchallenged in the 2027 presidential election.
He said, “We have it on good authority that the INEC chairman is under serious pressure from the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress to stop the ADC, and they have mobilized most of his commissioners into the project.
“The plan is to ensure that all opposition leaders are locked down in the ADC and, at the last minute, announce its deregistration, thereby preventing opposition leaders from joining another party. We do not yet know how complicit the judiciary is in this plan.
“Tinubu does not want to run against anybody. He is afraid of contesting the election against individuals like Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, and other credible opposition figures.”
