Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of aiding and abetting President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to disenfranchise the Africa Democratic Congress, ADC, and other opposition parties.
Atiku stated this in a statement issued on Monday by the Atiku Media Office Monday, insisting that the electoral body “is manifesting partisanship.”
According to Atiku, Nafiu Bala Gombe who claims to be the Chairman of the ADC had, on 11 July 2026, issued a statement, stating that he had succeeded in uploading the names of his candidates on the INEC portal as part of the process of the 2027 General Elections.
The uploading of candidates’ names by political parties is made possible by the granting of access codes to parties in line with the umpire’s guidelines.
Atiku said that the “INEC has been mum, and has not denied or confirmed this obvious contradiction to the law and its own guidelines.”
The former vice president wondered why the INEC would give access code to Bala Gombe after validating Senator David Mark as Chairman of the ADC.
“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 appelate court,” Atiku said.
He added that Nafiu Bala’s claim to have uploaded candidates’ names is neither grounded in law, nor supported by electoral guidelines.
“The so-called ‘successful’ uploading of ‘candidates’ by Nafiu Bala Gombe is neither grounded in law or supported by INEC’s own guidelines.
“Nafiu Bala Gombe is not recognised as ADC Chairman. Mark is duly recognised.
“Can there be two recognised Chairmen of a political party? Possibly only in an INEC led by Amupitan. Can INEC grant two access codes to a political party? Certainly not.”
Describing what INEC did as “a recipe for crisis,” Atiku noted that it “confirms that Prof Joash Amupitan was appointed to enable the weakening of the opposition parties by creating crisis even where none exists.”
Atiku reminded the INEC that the electoral guidelines provide for the emergence of candidates through party primaries, wondering why its access code should be given to Bala Gombe who did not conduct primaries.
“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.”
Atiku insisted that the INEC’s 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.
“Prof Joash Amupitan should quit formenting crisis in the ADC and the other opposition parties and by so doing helping President Bola Tinubu’s agenda of total state capture,” Atiku said.
Leave a Reply