ADC Leadership Crisis: INEC Says It Cannot Act Until It Gets Court Ruling

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will not take any action on the Federal High Court judgment nullifying the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) until it obtains a Certified True Copy of the ruling.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, disclosed this on Wednesday during a webinar organised by the PUNCH Media Foundation.

Haruna explained that the commission needed to study the judgment and obtain legal advice before deciding on the next line of action.

The judgment, delivered on November 5 by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, nullified the emergence of the Senator David Mark-led ADC leadership and invalidated decisions taken under it.

These included the process that produced former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.

The ruling followed a suit filed by a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Nafiu Bala Gombe, who challenged the emergence of the Mark-led leadership.

However, the ADC has rejected the judgment and appealed the decision. The party also filed an application for a stay of execution, urging INEC not to take any consequential action while the appeal is pending.

Haruna said the commission’s legal department would first examine the judgment and advise a committee chaired by a national commissioner, which would subsequently make recommendations to the commission.

He said INEC had already taken steps to obtain the court document but could not compel the court to issue it immediately.

“We can’t rush the courts, but we do our own part. We have a whole legal department. As soon as judgments like this come, what they do, of course, is to go to the courts, to go to the court register, to see if they can obtain it. But they have their own processes,” he said.

According to Haruna, it usually takes about a week to obtain a Certified True Copy of a judgment.

He noted that the ruling was delivered towards the end of the previous week, adding that the commission would commence its internal review as soon as it received the document.

“So, as soon as we get it, we run a committee system. The department which is in charge of litigation will look into it, then they will advise. There is a committee which is chaired by a national commissioner. They, in turn, will advise the Commission itself, and then the Commission will take a decision on exactly what to do,” he said.

Haruna stressed that INEC could not reach a decision on the matter without first obtaining the certified copy of the judgment.

“So, for now, until we receive that certified true copy, there’s really nothing that we can do about it,” he added.