By Pascal Ibe
Introduction
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday nullified the leadership of the African Democratic Congress led by former Senate President David Mark and invalidated all decisions taken by the party under its leadership, including the emergence of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections.
Justice Peter Lifu, in his judgment, declared the Mark-led Caretaker Committee illegal, nullifying the process through which it conducted the party’s presidential primary that produced Atiku as its flag bearer.
The court also nullified the emergence of former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, as National Secretary, as well as the appointments of other national officers and the nominations of candidates presented by the party for the 2027 elections.
In his reaction to the judgment, Atiku described it as a calculated attempt to undermine the ADC, alleging that its timing was connected to the growing support for his presidential campaign.
The ADC’s leadership crisis ensued last year in the wake of the influx of top politicians into the party.
The leadership crisis in the party began after the resignation of the party’s former executives led by Ralph Nwosu and the emergence of a new National Working Committee led by Mark on 29 July 2025.
The development triggered a legal challenge when Nafiu Bala, a former vice-national chairperson of the party, filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking recognition as the party’s rightful leader under its constitution.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was joined as the fourth defendant in the suit.
While the case was pending, the Federal High Court ordered all parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The Court of Appeal later dismissed an interlocutory appeal filed by the Mark-led faction and ordered all parties, including INEC, to maintain the status quo earlier ordered by the Federal High Court, pending further determination of the matter.
The Court of Appeal’s decision would mark a major shift in the dispute over the party’s leadership structure.
Following the ruling, INEC received letters from both factions on 16 March.
The Mark-led faction asked the commission not to recognise Mr Bala and to maintain its position pending resolution of the dispute, while the Bala faction asked INEC to give effect to the Court of Appeal judgment of 12 March in its favour.
INEC later removed the names of Mark as national chairman and Mr Aregbesola as national secretary from its website on 1 April, saying it would not recognise any faction pending the resolution of the legal disputes.
While the substantive hearing at the Federal High Court in Abuja unfolded, Mark and his group proceeded to the Supreme Court to challenge the Court of Appeal’s ruling.
On 14 April, the judge hearing the case, Emeka Nwite, adjourned the hearing indefinitely to await the decision of the Supreme Court.
On 30 April, the Supreme Court ordered the Federal High Court in Abuja, where the suit originated, to conclude the stalled proceedings.
Claim
A claim that the INEC has replaced Atiku’s name with Chris Uba as the ADC presidential candidate for 2027 has gone viral on Nigeria’s social media platforms.
On X, a user, @ability8996 (Ability Sunday), posted (archived here) a document which claims to emanate from INEC, showing that the commission has listed the particulars of Uba, a professor, as the ADC presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
The X user claimed that “INEC deletes Atiku Abubakar’s name from their portal and replaces it with Chris Uba as the rightful ADC presidential candidate in 2027 and Dr Shamsuddin Modibbo as his running mate.
The claim has since spread to other social media platforms like Facebook and others. The claim was made here, here, here and here.
Verification
First, FACTWATCH Nigeria checked the website of INEC to see its updated lists of parties’ presidential candidates for 2027. As of Saturday morning, 7 November, the document on the website shows that INEC has not removed or replaced Atiku with Uba as ADC presidential candidate.
A further check on the website also indicated that INEC has yet to remove the names of Mark and other members of his leadership replaced them with Nafiu Bala-led leadership.
In a report published by DailyTrust on 6 November, INEC says it is yet to receive the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Federal High Court judgment which sacked Mark leadership of the ADC and nullified the nomination of candidates produced via its primaries.
Mohammed Haruna, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), said the commission had yet to receive a copy of the judgment and had not discussed the matter.
FACTWATCH Nigeria later discovered that the claim that Atiku’s name was replaced with Uba’s name had earlier surfaced in July this year, but the claim was debunked by INEC.
Verdict
Findings showed that, as of November 7, INEC has to replace Atiku’s name with Uba’s name as ADC presidential candidate for 2027. The claim, alongside the particulars, was first posted online by Nafiu Bala, a factional chairperson of the ADC, in July and was disclaimed by INEC.
Therefore, the claim circulating online is FALSE.
