Appeal Court Judgment Creates Legal Uncertainty Over Atiku’s ADC Presidential Ticket, Says Lawyer Ejimakor
Appeal Court Judgment Creates Legal Uncertainty Over Atiku’s ADC Presidential Ticket, Says Lawyer Ejimakor
The court further held that elected state chairmen “are entitled to complete their four-year tenure,” protecting their positions from being cut short by the national leadership dispute.
Arecent Court of Appeal judgment has thrown the African Democratic Congress’s (ADC) primaries and candidate selection process into uncertainty, according to an analysis by constitutional lawyer Aloy Ejimakor, who said the ruling declared the party’s national convention a “nullity.”
In a detailed breakdown of the judgment, Ejimakor wrote that the decision “throws the validity of all nominations from that process into question,” raising doubts about the legitimacy of candidates picked through the invalidated national process.
Although the ADC has maintained that its 2027 presidential ticket remains unaffected, Ejimakor argued that the nullification of the national convention “creates legal uncertainty for candidates like Atiku Abubakar,” the party’s presidential standard-bearer.
INEC Barred From Recognizing Invalid Congresses
According to Ejimakor, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is now “barred from recognizing the invalid congresses” conducted under the party’s national caretaker leadership, a development he said would likely push the commission to deal only with primaries organized by legitimate state chapters.
“INEC will now primarily deal with the recognized state chapters, not the national caretaker leadership,” Ejimakor wrote, adding that the commission is “legally barred from recognizing or participating in any activities of the David Mark-led caretaker leadership.”
Court Affirms Authority of State Chapters
The judgment, Ejimakor said, delivered a strong affirmation of the powers of ADC’s state chapters. He noted that the court confirmed that under the party’s constitution, “the power to organize state congresses lies exclusively with the elected State Executive Committees, not the national caretaker body.”
The court further held that elected state chairmen “are entitled to complete their four-year tenure,” protecting their positions from being cut short by the national leadership dispute.
Ejimakor said INEC is now “obligated to recognize the duly elected State Executive Committees as the legitimate party structures for conducting congresses,” and predicted a “state-first” approach to the commission’s future dealings with the ADC.
“For state-level activities, the commission will deal directly with the recognized state chapters, bypassing the disputed national leadership,” he wrote.
Mixed Outcome for the Party
Summing up the implications, Ejimakor said the Appeal Court “reaffirmed the constitutional powers of the ADC’s state chapters, creating a pathway for primaries that might be recognized by INEC.”
However, he cautioned that this comes “at the cost of invalidating the national leadership’s authority and casting significant doubt on the entire national-level nomination process.”
