Mark-led ADC petitions INEC over rival faction’s nomination claim

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has formally requested the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate claims of document forgery and unauthorized use following a dispute over candidate nominations. The party's David Mark-led faction alleges that a rival group, led by Nafiu Bala Gombe, falsely reported uploading the names of its presidential candidate and other nominees to the INEC portal.

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INEC does not issue nomination portal access or nomination codes to a leadership it does not recognise. Secondly, the commission will not issue two codes to the same party. Otherwise, every impostor would simply upload names to the portal and proclaim themselves the authentic leadership of a political party. That is plainly not how the law or the commission’s processes work.

The Nafiu Bala Gombe faction had announced on Sunday night that it had successfully completed the nomination upload process, even displaying images purportedly showing the completed exercise with INEC's symbol and logo. However, the David Mark-led faction dismissed these claims as fabricated, asserting that only the INEC-recognized leadership has legitimate access to the commission's nomination portal and has already concluded its nomination process in compliance with the Electoral Act.

In a statement released on Monday, the ADC's National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, characterized the rival group's reports as an attempt to create confusion and mislead the public. The party emphasized that INEC does not grant portal access or nomination codes to unrecognized leadership, nor does it issue duplicate codes to the same party. "Otherwise, every impostor would simply upload names to the portal and proclaim themselves the authentic leadership of a political party," the statement read, highlighting the procedural impossibility of the rival faction's claims.

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The question, therefore, is straightforward: where is the evidence of this purported upload by a group of individuals not known by law or the electoral body?

The ADC challenged the opposing group to provide concrete evidence of their purported upload. Furthermore, the party urged INEC to investigate the apparent forgery and unauthorized use of documents that seem to originate from the commission. The ADC expressed concern that such actions could erode public trust in Nigeria's electoral system and its umpire, stating, "We trust that the commission will investigate this matter and take the necessary steps to correct this blatant misrepresentation."

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We are formally drawing the attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission to what appears to be the forgery and unauthorised use of documents purportedly emanating from the commission in a manner capable of creating confusion and undermining public confidence in its integrity and reputation as Nigeria’s electoral umpire.