Amupitan cites Zamfara, Plateau precedents; cautions against unauthorized national convention.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), has issued a stern warning to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), stating that the party’s insistence on holding congresses in defiance of a court order could lead to the total invalidation of its future electoral victories.
Speaking on Arise TV on Friday, Amupitan emphasized that INEC’s refusal to recognize the party’s current leadership—linked to former Senate President David Mark and former Osun Governor Rauf Aregbesola—is based on a subsisting judicial directive rather than administrative discretion.
“INEC didn’t just wake up one day and take this decision. There was an order of court,” Amupitan clarified. He warned that any action taken to undermine pending proceedings could render the party’s candidates ineligible, potentially handing victory to their opponents.
“The implication is that the person with the second highest number of votes will be declared the winner,” the INEC Chair said, citing the 2019 Zamfara debacle as a cautionary tale.
