INEC Halts Recognition of ADC Leadership as Elites Battle for Power, Ignoring Grassroots
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended recognition of all factions within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), exposing the internal power struggles among party elites while ordinary members are left voiceless amid a legal dispute.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the suspension of recognition for all factions within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), laying bare the destructive power games among the party’s elite leadership. This decision, following a Court of Appeal judgment on March 12, 2026, which ordered all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum, highlights how the interests of the masses are sidelined while political elites squabble in court, leaving the party’s grassroots supporters without representation or voice.
In a statement on April 1, 2026, INEC declared it would no longer accept correspondences from either the David Mark-led faction or the Rafiu Bala faction, both representing entrenched interests rather than the will of the people. The commission also refused to monitor any meetings, congresses, or conventions organized by these groups, further exposing the disconnect between the party’s leadership and its base. Additionally, INEC removed the names associated with the David Mark-led National Working Committee (NWC) from its official portal, in compliance with the court’s directive, but this bureaucratic move does little to address the real issue: the exclusion of ordinary members from the decision-making process.
The crisis erupted after former national chairman Ralph Nwosu’s resignation in July 2025, a moment that could have been used to democratize the party but instead led to David Mark seizing the interim chairmanship, a move fiercely contested by Rafiu Bala, the party’s vice chairman. Bala’s legal challenge, Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, filed on September 2, 2025, sought to restrain Mark’s faction from monopolizing power. The Court of Appeal’s dismissal of Mark’s appeal on March 12, 2026, forced INEC to take a neutral stance, but the commission’s actions have yet to empower the party’s rank and file.
INEC claims to be committed to impartiality and urges all political actors to respect judicial processes, but unless the voices of ordinary citizens are heard, these legal maneuvers only serve to entrench the status quo and undermine genuine democratic participation ahead of the 2027 general elections.
