ADC threatens nationwide protest to remove David Mark
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Business Day Nigeria
ADC regional chairmen threaten a nationwide protest against Nigeria’s electoral commission to remove David Mark from the party leadership. They demand implementation of the ruling cancelling his interim leadership, according to Business Day Nigeria, which reported their statements in Abuja.
The forum of chairmen of the departmental federations of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), a Nigerian political party, has threatened to organise a nationwide protest against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) if it does not remove Nigerian senator David Mark and members of his interim national working committee from its records. The forum’s secretary, Kennedy Odion, made the demand on Friday in Abuja, a day after a Federal High Court ruling annulled the interim leadership led by David Mark.
The forum is also asking INEC to replace the names of David Mark and his team on its portal with those of Nafiu Bala Gombe and the officials it considers to be the leadership recognised under the ADC’s statutes. Kennedy Odion said the ruling invalidates, among other things, the designation of former vice-president Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate, as well as the candidacies resulting from the congresses and the national convention.
The crisis also concerns recognition of the ADC bodies resulting from the congresses and convention. The Federal High Court had on 29 April confirmed the mandate of elected departmental executives pending valid congresses and a convention, before the Court of Appeal upheld that decision on 13 June, according to Business Day Nigeria.
The dispute follows several legal proceedings concerning Atiku Abubakar’s candidacy and the leadership of the ADC. INEC again denied on 6 November that it recognised David Mark’s leadership, amid a dispute over Atiku’s candidacy for the 2027 presidential election.
