Commission cites Court of Appeal order, freezes dealings with both factions and refuses Nafiu Bala Gombe’s push for recognition as ADC acting chairman.
ABUJA has entered another bruising chapter in the African Democratic Congress power struggle, after INEC moved to strip the David Mark-led national working committee from its portal and shut the door on both rival camps. The Commission says it reached the decision after reviewing the Court of Appeal’s March 12 ruling in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/145/2026 and the fresh correspondence sent by lawyers on both sides.
The move is more than a clerical edit. It is a blunt signal that the electoral umpire no longer wants to be dragged into a leadership war that has turned the ADC into a courtroom battlefield. INEC says it will maintain the “status quo ante bellum”, a phrase that means the position before the September 2, 2025 suit was filed, and will not take any step that could amount to a “fait accompli” against the court.
The clash began in earnest after the federal high court action filed by Hon. Nafiu Bala Gombe, who wants the court to halt recognition of the Mark camp and to force INEC to acknowledge him as acting national chairman. The Mark side, meanwhile, went on appeal, only for the Court of Appeal to dismiss the interlocutory challenge on March 12, 2026 and issue preservatory orders intended to protect the case before the trial court.
INEC says it received two letters dated March 16, 2026. One, from Suleiman Usman SAN & Co, urged the Commission not to recognise Mr Gombe because the leadership dispute is still pending at the Federal High Court. The other, from Summit Law Chambers, pressed INEC to enforce the appellate ruling, cease recognition of Senator David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, remove their names from the portal and stop dealing with any action taken by them for the party.
The timeline matters. INEC said the Mark-led NWC names were uploaded on September 9, 2025, seven days after the suit was filed on September 2, 2025. That detail is at the heart of the Commission’s argument that it must now step back and avoid appearing to bless one faction while the court fight is still alive. In the Commission’s view, any other move could prejudice the pending case.
The Gombe camp also claimed INEC had gone off-side by inviting the Mark group to a political parties’ meeting on March 24 and monitoring a purported NEC meeting on March 25. Summit Law Chambers said those actions amounted to disobedience of the Court of Appeal orders. INEC has now responded by saying it will not receive further communication from either faction or monitor any meeting, congress or convention organised by either side until the Federal High Court finishes the matter.
That is a serious turn for a party that had hoped to project itself as the cleanest opposition platform in the 2027 cycle. Instead, the ADC is now being portrayed as a formation where internal control, public legitimacy and legal authority are all being fought over at once. The Commission’s decision to delist the Mark-led structure from its portal is likely to harden the split rather than calm it, because portal recognition is politically potent even when final rights still lie with the court. This is an inference from INEC’s stated position and the parties’ competing demands.
The Mark camp has not taken the blow quietly. ADC interim publicity secretary Bolaji Abdullahi said the party rejects INEC’s reading of the appellate ruling, accusing the Commission of yielding to pressure and saying the statement is “full of contradictions”. He also argued that INEC had caved to pressure from a government rattled by the party’s rising profile. That pushback suggests the fight is far from over and the next legal move may come as quickly as the next political statement.
For now, INEC has chosen caution over confrontation. It says it will stick to neutrality, obey the courts and avoid doing anything that could distort the outcome of the pending suit. In a season where opposition parties are trying to build credibility before 2027, the ADC crisis has become a warning that internal power grabs can quickly mutate into institutional embarrassment. And once the electoral umpire shuts its door, every faction is left shouting from outside.
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