INEC Suspends Action on ADC Leadership Crisis Pending Certified Court Judgment

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 obtain and study the certified judgment before seeking legal advice and determining its next course 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.

The ruling also affected the process that produced former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.

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

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

Speaking on the matter, Haruna said INEC’s legal department would examine the judgment after receiving the certified copy and advise a committee chaired by a national commissioner. The committee would then make recommendations to the Commission before a final decision is taken.

He disclosed that INEC had already taken steps to obtain the document but could not force the court to release 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,” Haruna said.

The INEC commissioner noted that obtaining a certified true copy of a court judgment usually takes about a week. He added that the ruling was delivered towards the end of the previous week, meaning the Commission would begin its internal review once the document became available.

Haruna further explained that the litigation department would first study the judgment and submit its advice to the relevant committee before the matter is presented to the full Commission.

He stressed that INEC could not reach a decision on the ADC leadership crisis without first obtaining the certified court document.

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