The opposition party wants the INEC Chairman out, accusing him of bias, overreach and constitutional misconduct, while the Commission insists it is only obeying the courts. The fight now cuts to the heart of Nigeria’s electoral trust and the road to 2027.
ABUJA, Nigeria — The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has turned its battle with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) into a full-blown institutional showdown, formally pressing for the immediate resignation or removal of INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, over allegations of partisan conduct, gross misconduct and constitutional breaches.
The petition was received at INEC headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, 8 April 2026, deepening an already toxic row over the Commission’s handling of the party’s leadership crisis.
At the centre of the dispute is INEC’s recent decision to derecognise the David Mark-led ADC leadership, a move the Commission says was taken in obedience to a Court of Appeal order preserving the status quo pending the determination of the substantive case before the Federal High Court.
INEC has maintained that any attempt to supervise party congresses or conventions in the middle of that legal contest would amount to disobedience of a court order, not neutrality.
The ADC, however, is pushing a far harsher narrative. In the party’s telling, INEC has crossed the line from referee to participant.
The opposition accuses the Commission of acting as though it were a court, not an umpire, and says the body’s conduct has created the impression of a calculated political tilt.
The party has already framed the dispute in grave terms, warning that the Commission’s actions amount to a push towards a “one-party state”.
INEC has hit back hard. Through its Chief Press Secretary, Adedayo Oketola, the Commission dismissed the demand for Amupitan’s removal as a distraction and a “direct assault on the independence” of INEC.
It also described the call as “misplaced and legally unfounded”, insisting that the appointment and tenure of the Commission’s leadership are governed by Section 157 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
That constitutional point matters. INEC’s own official profile says Prof Amupitan was nominated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 9 October 2025, confirmed by the Senate on 16 October and sworn in on 23 October 2025, succeeding Prof Mahmood Yakubu.
The same profile says he took office with a public pledge to deliver free, fair, credible, transparent and inclusive elections and to protect the integrity of the process.
This is why the present row carries a wider democratic danger than a mere party quarrel.
If a major opposition bloc believes the electoral umpire has moved from rule enforcement into political interpretation, the consequences go beyond the ADC. They go to public confidence, legal certainty and the credibility of the 2027 general election cycle.
That is especially sensitive in a country where election disputes often merge with factional party wars, courtroom battles and posturing before the media.
This is an assessment, but it is one grounded in the legal and political facts now unfolding.
There is also a serious sequencing issue. The reports reviewed show that the ADC’s petition on 8 April did not emerge from nowhere.
It followed days of escalating confrontation, including the party’s public demand on 2 April for Amupitan’s resignation and INEC’s earlier insistence that its actions were compelled by the court.
The latest petition therefore looks less like a first protest and more like an attempt to force the matter into a higher political and constitutional arena.
For now, INEC has not publicly shifted its position. The Commission’s line remains that it acted within the law and under judicial instruction.
The ADC, meanwhile, is betting that a formal petition, combined with rising political pressure, can turn what began as an internal party leadership fight into a referendum on the neutrality of Nigeria’s electoral umpire.
Whether that gambit succeeds will depend on how INEC, the courts and the political class handle the next round of this fast-moving standoff.
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