Senator David Mark has said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) took sides in withdrawing the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), of which he is the National Chairman.
ThelensNG reports that INEC dissolved the Mark-led leadership on Wednesday, citing its position on the Court of Appeal’s decision in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/145/2026: Senator David Mark v. Hon. Nafiu Bala Gombe & Ors.
Reacting to the development during a press conference at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on Thursday, Mark noted that Nigeria has been under democratic rule since 1999.
His words: “After 27 years, we thought we could proudly celebrate the entrenchment of democracy, believing that the country’s dictatorial past has receded into history. Our experience in the past three years or so since President Bola Tinubu came to power has however confirmed otherwise. Democracy is only sustained by the quality of freedom that it offers and guarantees, especially the freedom to choose, the freedom to participate, and the freedom to associate.
“These freedoms are so critical to democracy that without them, democracy dies. Yet, in the past three years, we have witnessed a relentless assault on these very freedoms. The agenda is very clear, to create a situation where, in 2027, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerges as the only option left for the people, despite the widespread suffering and wanton killings going on across the country.
“The twin challenge of deepening poverty, and worsening security situation in the country did not just happen. They are direct consequences of the failure of this government. They know that Nigerians will not want this to continue. They know Nigerians will vote them out. This is why they would do anything to hang on to power by hook or crook.”
According to him, the coalition of opposition parties came about as a result of a collective search for democratic freedom and the desire to resist what was clearly a relentless assault on opposition political parties.
Mark disclosed that the coalition leaders united under the ADC to save Nigeria’s multi-party democracy and rescue the country from what he described as an emerging dictatorship. “We did not come to the ADC by chance. We did our due diligence. We fulfilled all the party’s constitutional requirements, as well as all wider requirements under the laws that guide the management and operation of political parties.”
He revealed that a NEC meeting, monitored by INEC officials, was convened on July 29, 2025, stressing that one of its key resolutions was the dissolution of the party’s National Working Committee and the ratification of a caretaker committee to oversee its affairs, with him as National Chairman, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary, and others serving as party officers.
“In addition to witnessing this process that brought in the new leadership of the party, a formal report of these resolutions was subsequently communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). On September 9th, 2025, INEC then uploaded the names of the relevant NWC members of the party, based on the NEC resolutions.
“One of the officials in the dissolved NWC was Nafiu Bala, who was one of the Deputy National Chairmen of the party. It is on record that Gombe resigned this position on 17th May, 2025. His resignation was also duly transmitted to INEC on the 12th of August, 2025. Regardless of his resignation, he decided to approach the courts on September 2nd, 2025, four clear months after his resignation, seeking to be recognised as the Chairman of the ADC.
“What this means is that by the 2nd of September, when he approached the courts, INEC was already aware that Secretary Aregbesola and I had been inaugurated on the 29th of July in a process monitored by INEC. INEC was also aware that Gombe had resigned his position before the said inauguration on the 29th of July,” he alleged.
Mark continued: “While this matter was in court, our team of lawyers approached the Court of Appeal, challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court. In rejecting the appeal, the Court of Appeal ordered the parties including INEC to maintain the status quo ante bellum. After this ruling on March 12th, 2026, we noticed a flurry of activities by lawyers associated with Nafiu Bala, requesting INEC to recognise him as the new Chairman, or to de-recognise Aregbesola and I as the Secretary and Chairman respectively, in a curious interpretation of what constitutes status quo ante bellum.
“But we knew all along that Nafiu Bala and his lawyers were not acting on their own volition. They had become willing tools in the hands of a ruling party that had lost all support and goodwill of the Nigerian people; a government that had become desperate to cling on to power by all means even if it meant throwing the country into avoidable crisis.”
The former Senate President asserted that ADC has become the only viable opposition party in Nigeria in the past few months, alleging that the APC government does not want any opposition. “While we were fully aware of all their desperate plans, we remained confident that no level of desperation would have driven the government and the INEC to take a direct action against the ruling of the court. But we were wrong.
“It was therefore to our surprise, yesterday, 1st of April, that INEC issued a press statement after the close of business hours, announcing that it had decided to withdraw recognition for both the ADC leadership, which I head, and the fictitious one purportedly led by Nafiu Bala, thereby creating a false equivalence between the parties. By purporting to recognizing Nafiu Bala as a faction, INEC seems to have conveniently forgotten that this individual had resigned his position, to the knowledge of INEC itself.”
Speaking further, Mark stated that the crux of the matter is the interpretation of status quo ante bellum, which the Court of Appeal directed should be maintained, emphasising that based on legal advice available to the party, no interpretation or precedent supports INEC’s position.
“Based on its press statement of yesterday, INEC is pretending to be confused as to what constitutes the status quo ante bellum. If this was so, under the circumstances, what one would have expected was for INEC to approach the Court of Appeal to request a judicial interpretation of what truly represents the status quo under the circumstances. But it did not do this.
“While posturing to be neutral, its actions confirm that it has become irredeemably partisan, working, as it were, towards a preconceived agenda. With its action, this INEC has left no one in doubt that it has chosen the path of dishonour and has become complicit in undermining Nigeria’s democracy. It therefore can no longer be trusted.”
He also argued that INEC cannot fix the status quo based on the date it uploaded the names of new ADC officials on its website, noting that the Commission does not have the power to determine who leads any political party. “That decision was taken on July 29th, not on September 9th. With its press release yesterday, INEC has invented a status quo that never existed, because there was no time that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) did not have a duly constituted leadership.
“What INEC has done is to create a situation that, by its own curious logic, leaves the ADC without leadership. This certainly cannot be the status quo that the Court of Appeal directed should be preserved. It is an INEC invention that is not known to any Nigerian law. There is only one conclusion that Nigerians can draw from the April 1st action taken by INEC: The Electoral Umpire Has Taken Sides. It Can No Longer Be Trusted. As a matter of fact, INEC has acted in contempt of the Court of Appeal and has therefore acted unlawfully,” he lamented.
Mark emphasised that it is not the ADC that is under attack, describing the situation as a direct assault on Nigeria’s democracy and the right of Nigerians to choose, participate, and exercise their rights as free citizens.
He alleged that the APC-led Federal Government has undermined, compromised, and coerced other opposition parties, adding that the ADC has emerged as the last bastion between Nigeria’s democracy and full-blown dictatorship.
“And this is what worries them,” he said. “What is now unfolding is a concerted effort to dismantle that last bulwark. If we allow this to happen, it could signal the end of our democracy as we know it. If we yield to it, we would have become complicit by our inaction. We therefore hold it a duty to our democracy and the Nigerian people to say ‘no’.”
He questioned why President Bola Tinubu is afraid of a contest when 90% of the National Assembly and over 30 of Nigeria’s 36 Governors belong to the APC.” If you are convinced that you have done well for the people who voted for you, why are you afraid of a free, fair, and transparent electoral contest? If you are indeed the democrat that you claim to be, why are you bent on destroying all opposition political parties?,” he asked.
Mark reiterated that there are no competing claims to the leadership of the ADC, stating that Nafiu Bala has no locus whatsoever.
“INEC should have waited for the Court of Appeal to decide this matter. Instead, INEC went ahead to do the bidding of the ruling party. But let us be clear: the role of INEC over political parties is not administrative: it is not managerial: It is simply supervisory,” he explained.
He equally noted that the leadership of the ADC inaugurated at the July 29, 2025, NEC meeting remains the lawful leaders of the party, encouraging party members and Nigerians alike that there is no cause for alarm whatsoever.
He highlighted the implications of the Commission’s decision as follows:
– First, by attempting to subvert the leadership of the ADC, INEC has already undermined our participation in the Osun and Ekiti elections taking place later this year.
– Secondly, we have our congresses starting on the April 9, 2026, ending with our convention on the April 14, 2026. We have given due notice to INEC, and they have acknowledged receipt of that notice. This is what the law requires of us.
Mark warned that the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, will be held directly responsible for whatever actions or reactions follow this “criminal path” that the Commission has chosen to take.
He called for the immediate resignation or sack of Amupitan and all the National Commissioners, saying that Nigerians no longer have confidence in them.
“We are convinced that they are incapable of conducting any credible election,” he remarked. “Let us also make it clear: we are proceeding with our party programmes, because there is nothing under the law that makes INEC’s attendance, a mandatory requirement. We have duly served INEC notice, and we will proceed accordingly.”
Mark also called on the international community to take note of INEC’s actions on April 1 and of the restraint currently being exercised, urging them to recognise the clear threat to Nigeria’s democracy and stability, and to hold accountable those undermining the integrity of the electoral process.
He further called on Nigerians to defend the country’s democracy, stressing that this is a defining moment and urging them to stand firm, speak out, and participate.
He encouraged them to resist any attempt to impose a one-party state on Nigeria, adding that “Nigeria belongs to all of us, and together, we must protect it.”
