The Independent National Electoral Commission has confirmed that it will recognise only the candidates submitted by the Senator David Mark-led leadership of the African Democratic Congress for the 2027 general elections. This decision effectively clears former Vice President Atiku Abubakar alongside 470 other candidates presented by the recognized leadership faction.
INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna, explained that the commission granted the Mark-led leadership access to its candidate nomination portal following a Supreme Court judgment that affirmed its authority over the party. According to the commissioner, this faction has already submitted candidates for a total of 471 elective positions, which includes two presidential candidates, 109 senatorial candidates, and 360 candidates for the House of Representatives.
Haruna stated that the commission provided the access code to the Mark-led faction in compliance with the recent Supreme Court ruling affirming his leadership of the party. He added that the court did not instruct the commission to accept submissions from the rival faction, which had already lost its legal appeal for official recognition.
The commissioner also addressed the recent Court of Appeal judgment delivered on Monday, noting that INEC would need to carefully study the Certified True Copy of the ruling before taking an official position on its legal implications. He stated that the commission expects to receive the details of the judgment within 48 hours, after which a formal position will be taken.
This clarification from the electoral umpire came in response to claims made by a rival faction led by Nafiu Gombe, which had asserted that it gained access to the INEC nomination portal and successfully uploaded its own list of candidates for the 2027 elections.
Reacting to the development, the ADC welcomed INEC’s statement and accused Gombe of attempting to mislead the public. In an official statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party claimed that the electoral commission had confirmed that the document circulated by Gombe's faction was entirely forged.
The party’s spokesperson expressed satisfaction with the prompt clarification from INEC, stating that the commission's response proved the document circulating online was fraudulent. He described the act of falsely claiming unauthorized access to INEC's restricted nomination database as a grave matter that warrants immediate investigation and prosecution by law enforcement agencies. The ADC formally called on security agencies to investigate Nafiu Bala and his associates over the incident.
Despite the ongoing controversy surrounding Monday's Court of Appeal judgment—which affirmed a Federal High Court ruling restraining INEC from recognizing state congresses conducted by committees under the Mark-led caretaker leadership—the ADC maintains that the court's decision does not affect its candidate list. The party insisted that the appellate court's ruling strictly concerned the conduct of ward, local government, and state congresses, and has no bearing on the validity of its primary elections or the emergence of its candidates for the 2027 general elections.
