By Abigail David

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it recognises the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) led by former Senate President David Mark and has accepted candidate nominations submitted by the faction for the 2027 general election.

INEC National Commissioner Mohammed Haruna told The Press that the commission granted the Mark-led leadership access to its nomination portal following a Supreme Court judgment affirming its leadership of the party.

According to Haruna, the recognised faction has submitted candidates for 471 elective positions, including two presidential candidates, 109 senatorial seats and 360 House of Representatives constituencies.

He added that the rival faction was not granted access to the portal, stating that INEC’s decision was based on the Supreme Court ruling.

Meanwhile, the ADC has called for an investigation into claims by a rival factional leader, Nafiu Bala, that he uploaded the party’s candidates through INEC’s nomination portal. In a statement signed by National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi, the party welcomed INEC’s clarification that only the Mark-led National Executive Committee was recognised and urged law enforcement agencies to investigate what it described as false claims.

Haruna also said INEC would study the Certified True Copy of a recent Court of Appeal judgment on the party’s leadership dispute before taking any position on its implications.

The Court of Appeal recently upheld a Federal High Court judgment restraining INEC from recognising ADC state congresses conducted by committees appointed by the Mark-led leadership. However, the ADC maintains that the ruling relates only to state congresses and does not affect the validity of its candidate nominations for the 2027 elections.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth Vanguard has alleged that the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) is planning to substitute the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Barrister Pius Akutah, as the APC governorship candidate in Benue State.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday by its Secretary, Ms. Celestina Adoke, Esq., the group claimed the alleged move was aimed at preventing Governor Hyacinth Alia from exercising his right to seek re-election in the 2027 governorship election.

According to the group, a report is allegedly being prepared to suggest that Akutah appeared before the APC governorship screening committee, which it said screened and cleared Governor Alia, Kuraun Isaac, and Hon. Terwase Orbunde for the party’s primaries.

The APC Youth Vanguard maintained that only the three aspirants participated in and were cleared during the screening exercise conducted by the committee sent from Abuja, alleging that Akutah neither appeared before the panel nor took part in the process.

The group further alleged that any attempt by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, to secure the party’s governorship ticket for Akutah despite his alleged non-participation in the screening and primary process could trigger internal disputes and legal challenges capable of affecting the party’s chances in the general election.

It also claimed that Akutah did not resign from his position as Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council within the timeline stipulated for political appointees seeking elective office ahead of the 2027 elections. The group further alleged that Akutah is currently attending an international maritime conference in London while still holding the federal appointment.

Additionally, the group alleged that any attempt to produce a screening committee report indicating that Akutah participated in the screening exercise would be improper and could have adverse consequences for the party.

The APC Youth Vanguard called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene by cautioning the APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, and members of the party’s National Working Committee against what it described as an illegal move in Benue State.

The Zamfara precedent should have been the loudest warning bell any political party could ever receive, yet it appears certain actors within the Benue APC either forgot the lesson or simply believed they were above it. In 2019, the All Progressives Congress swept every single elective position in Zamfara State, only to watch the courts strip the party of every seat won because of unresolved primaries controversies. That singular event remains one of the most painful lessons in the history of Nigerian party politics, a case where victory at the polls meant nothing because the party failed to settle its internal disputes before facing the electorate. It is what many now call the successful defeat, a party that won everything and lost everything in one court pronouncement.

It was precisely to avoid a repeat of that disaster that the APC strengthened its Appeal Committee, a body vested with the responsibility of reviewing complaints arising from primaries and resolving them with finality. This committee exists as the internal safeguard, the mechanism meant to catch and correct every irregularity before matters spiral into litigation that could embarrass the party nationally.

Going into the 2026 primaries, the APC made its position unmistakably clear. Results were not to be announced at state level. Everything was to be centrally coordinated and released only after all controversies had been addressed. This was not a suggestion, it was policy.

Yet in Benue, officials who supervised the primaries were allegedly pressured into announcing results prematurely, in open defiance of that directive and amid credible evidence of misconduct. This was done by elements who apparently regard presidential directives as optional suggestions rather than binding instructions from the leader of their own party.

It must be recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had personally intervened in the Benue APC crisis and handed down a clear directive: all elected officials of the party were to be returned automatically, unopposed and undisturbed. Chief Hyacinth Iormem Alia, a governor once described by Chief Gabriel Suswam as more powerful than God, appeared emboldened rather than restrained by that intervention. Rather than comply, he reportedly dismissed the presidential directive as mere prayers, fielded his own preferred candidates, and proceeded to manipulate the outcome of the primaries in his favour.

What followed was the proper constitutional response within the party structure. Appeals were filed before the Appeal Committee. Upon due consideration of the evidence, the committee ordered rectifications and forwarded fresh names to the Independent National Electoral Commission. It bears emphasis that those so called new names are not strangers to the party. They are the very officials the president had directed should be automatically returned. Their restoration, and the consequent removal of Alia’s placeholders, is not an act of party disloyalty. It is an act that vindicates internal discipline, protects the party’s transparency, and honours the chain of authority from the presidency downward.

Having taken that decision, the APC owes itself, and every Nigerian who still believes in due process, the duty to stand firmly behind the Appeal Committee’s verdict. Any pressure to reverse or dilute a decision that is already in effect would amount to inviting the ghost of Zamfara back into the room, only this time in Benue. The party constitution says the party is supreme. Benue should not be the state where that supremacy is tested and found wanting.