In a two-to-one ruling, the Abuja Court of Appeal has upheld a previous judgment that prevents the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from acknowledging state congresses organized by the caretaker committee led by Senator David Mark of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The court affirmed that the responsibility for conducting such congresses belongs to elected state executive committees rather than the national caretaker leadership.
Justice Okon Abang delivered the majority verdict, supported by Justice Donatus Okorowo, confirming that the earlier Federal High Court order issued on April 29 remains in effect. Conversely, Justice Abba Mohammed dissented, arguing that the court should not have intervened in the internal affairs of the political party. The appellate court imposed a N10 million fine on the ADC following this decision.
Despite the ruling, the ADC maintains that its candidates nominated through direct primaries are unaffected by the judgment. National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi announced that the party intends to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar also stated that his legal team is moving to the Supreme Court, clarifying that the current judgment specifically concerns internal party congresses and does not invalidate his nomination.
Furthermore, the ADC has accused a rival group of fabricating INEC documents to falsely claim they successfully uploaded candidate names to the commission’s portal. The party stated that only their officially recognized leadership possesses the necessary access codes to interface with the INEC system and called for an official investigation into the alleged forgery.
