INEC Dismisses Nafiu Bala ADC Faction’s Claim Of Uploading 2027 Candidates

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied claims of the factional leader of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nafiu Bala Gombe, that its presidential candidate and other elective positions have been uploaded on the commission’s portal.

NEWSNGR reports that Bala, in a statement on Sunday, claimed that the faction gained access to the commission’s nomination portal and successfully submitted the party’s candidates.

However, the INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, in a chat with Daily Post, dismissed the claim, saying Bala was not recognised by the commission as the ADC’s national chairman.

She said, “It is not true.”

Also, a review of INEC’s official political parties portal does not support Bala’s claim, as it lists Senator David Mark as the ADC National Chairman and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as the party’s National Secretary, indicating that they remain the officials recognised by the commission for nominations and other official matters.

Meanwhile, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, led by Senator David Mark, Bolaji Abdullahi, has debunked claims that the faction led by Nafiu Bala has uploaded candidates to the nomination portal of INEC for the 2027 election.

Abdullahi made the denial in a statement on Monday in which he argued that INEC can not issue codes for nomination or upload to a party faction it does not recognise.

According to him, the claim by Gombe is a blatant lie, and for verification purposes, Gombe should provide evidence of the upload by his group.