The Independent National Electoral Commission has been accused of being partisan and a plot to disenfranchise the African Democratic Congress (ADC) by granting Nafiu Bala Gombe code to upload candidates’ data on the commission’s portal
A statement signed by the Atiku Media office in Abuja released on Monday made the allegations
The statement posted on a verified page of a spokesperson of the ADC’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Atiku Abubakar, Paul Ibe accused INEC of aiding and abetting President Bola Tinubu to disenfranchise the ADC and other opposition parties.
The statement quoted Nafiu Bala Gombe who paraded himself as National Chairman of the ADC on July 11, 2026, saying he has uploaded the names of his candidates on the portal of the Commission.
The statement said “the uploading of the names of candidates on INEC portal is part of the process of the 2027 General Elections made possible by the granting of access codes to political parties in line with the umpire’s 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 Sen. David Mark-led exco, the electoral umpire is once again manifesting its partisanship.
“This was the same thing that the Prof 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 appellate court.
Ibe said the so-called “successful” uploading of “candidates” by Nafiu Bala Gombe was illegal and against INEC’s guidelines, adding that Gombe was not ADC’s Chairman.
According to the statement, Mark is the duly recognized ADC chairman, saying there can be now two recognised Chairmen of a political party, adding that INEC cannot grant two access codes to a political party? C.
“What INEC has done is a recipe for crisis and confirms that Prof Joash Amupitan was appointed to enable the weakening of the opposition parties by creating a crisis even where none exists.
“We wish to remind Prof 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 recognized 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.”
The statement warned the INEC chairman to stop fomenting crisis in the ADC and the other opposition parties, adding that granting Gombe the ocede to uplade candidates on the commission’s portal was aiding Tinubu’s agenda of total state capture.
