The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will meet next week to consider a Federal High Court judgment concerning the African Democratic Congress (ADC), including its implications for former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s 2027 presidential candidacy.
INEC said it would not take a position on the party’s leadership dispute until it had obtained and reviewed a Certified True Copy of the judgment.
Mohammed Haruna, a national commissioner and chairman of the commission’s Information and Voter Education Committee, said on Sunday that INEC would not rely on media reports to determine what the court had decided.
“We can’t take a position until we see the judgment ourselves. We have to get the Certified True Copy because we don’t take decisions or reports of what the court said based on reports, because the reports could be wrong,” he said.
Haruna said the commission would discuss the matter at its meeting next week.
“This one is very straightforward. We are all here until next week, when the commission meets. We will have to meet over it,” he said.
He added that INEC would comply with any further court order if the faction led by David Mark appealed the judgment and obtained a stay of execution.
“Obviously, if the David Mark faction appeals, which I am sure they will, and gets an injunction for a stay of execution, we’ll have to obey that judgment,” he said.
Last Thursday, the Federal High Court in Abuja nullified the caretaker committee led by former Senate President Mark, ruling that its formation breached the ADC constitution, relevant provisions of the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, the court also invalidated decisions made by the committee, including the party’s presidential primary, which produced Atiku as its candidate for the 2027 election.
The court further nullified the emergence of former Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola as national secretary, the appointments of other national officers and the party’s nomination of candidates for the general election.
It also directed INEC not to recognise or act on decisions taken at the ADC’s 99th National Executive Committee meeting, held on July 27, 2025.
The suit was filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former ADC deputy national chairman for the North-East, who challenged the process by which Mark and other members of the caretaker committee assumed control of the party.
Gombe argued that, following the resignation of former national chairman Ralph Nwosu, he was constitutionally entitled to assume the party’s leadership.
