- Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, of actively working to destabilize and weaken opposition political parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.
- Atiku questioned why INEC allegedly granted an electoral portal access code to Nafiu Bala Gombe, a factional claimant to the chairmanship of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), despite the commission’s prior recognition of the Senator David Mark-led national executive.
- The opposition leader argued that by allowing a parallel submission of candidates without verified party primaries, the electoral umpire is intentionally engineering leadership crises within opposition ranks to favor President Bola Tinubu’s political agenda.
The internal friction within Nigeria’s opposition space intensified on Monday following a scathing assessment of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Eko Hot Blog reports that in a public statement issued by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, and signed by the Atiku Media Office, the frontline politician alleged that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, was strategically positioned to undermine the operational capacity of alternative parties.
EDITOR’S PICK
- Hamzat Appoints Obanikoro as Campaign DG Ahead of 2027 Lagos Governorship Race
- Tinubu’s State Police Plan Gains Momentum as Amendment Looms
- Residents Raise Alarm After Two Bodies Found in Lagos Waterway
Atiku pointed directly to the commission’s controversial handling of the internal leadership structure of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as clear evidence of deep-seated institutional partisanship.
The conflict erupted after Nafiu Bala Gombe, who claims to lead the ADC, issued a weekend statement on July 11, 2026, announcing that he had successfully uploaded his faction’s candidate list to the INEC Nomination Portal for the 2027 general elections.
The submission process relies entirely on secure digital access codes distributed by the electoral umpire to verified party leadership blocks.
Atiku strongly faulted the commission for remaining completely silent while permitting Gombe’s team to utilize an access code, especially since the commission had previously validated the authentic leadership of the ADC under the chairmanship of Senator David Mark.
Atiku drew heavy parallels between the current digital dispute and previous administrative controversies under the Amupitan-led commission, recalling an earlier incident where the duly recognized ADC executive was temporarily displaced following a contentious ruling by Justice Lifu that bypassed a superior appellate court decision.
The former Vice President maintained that a single political entity cannot legally possess two distinct chairmen, nor should an impartial umpire distribute multiple access tokens to opposing factions within the same organization.
He emphasized that bypassing established court decisions and statutory protocols erodes public confidence in the foundational fairness of the entire 2027 electoral cycle.
To reinforce his legal position, Atiku cited explicit provisions from the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the Electoral Act of 2022.
He stated that Section 222 of the Constitution dictates that candidates must strictly emerge from valid party primaries monitored directly by INEC, while Section 84 of the Electoral Act reinforces that a party can only put forward one legitimate nominee per elective office.
Because the faction led by Gombe did not hold supervised primaries, Atiku declared their parallel data entry null, void, and unconstitutional.
While INEC has yet to issue an official rebuttal to these serious charges, political analysts suggest that the escalating rhetoric highlights the increasingly tense atmosphere surrounding party registration rules and state security logistics.
