- Safiu Kehinde
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has talked download claims by its factional leader, Nafiu Bala-Gombe, who on Friday announced the upload of his faction’s candidates list on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal for the 2027 General Election.
ADC, in a statement issued on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, labelled Bala-Gombe’s claim a blatant lie.
Abdullahi held that INEC does not issue nomination portal access to a leadership it does not recognise, considering the commission’s confirmation of the Sen. David Mark-led factional leadership of the ADC.
“The claim is a blatant lie. And it is quite easy to verify why. INEC does not issue nomination portal access or nomination codes to a leadership it does not recognise.
“Secondly, the Commission will not issue two codes to the same party.
“Otherwise, every impostor would simply upload names to the portal and proclaim themselves the authentic leadership of a political party.
“That is plainly not how the law or the Commission’s processes work.” He wrote.
While demanding evidence of the purported upload of candidates’ name by Bala-Gombe, Abdullahi demanded investigation into the claim as it warned INEC against forgery and unauthorized use of documents allegedly emanating from the the commission.
“The question, therefore, is straightforward: where is the evidence of this purported upload by a group of individuals not known by law or the electoral body?
“We are also, by this statement, formally drawing the attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to what appears to be the forgery and unauthorised use of documents purportedly emanating from the Commission in a manner capable of creating confusion and undermining public confidence in its integrity and reputation as Nigeria’s electoral umpire.
“We trust that the Commission will investigate this matter and take the necessary steps to correct this blatant misrepresentation.” He added.