INEC and ADC respond to Nafiu Bala's claim about party candidates

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected Nafiu Bala's claim that he uploaded Chris Uba’s details as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate.

INEC Spokesperson, Mohammed Haruna, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday that Bala could not have uploaded any candidate. He said the commission only gave login details to the David Mark faction, which is the only recognized leadership of the party.

Bala posted on his Facebook Page that his faction of the ADC has uploaded Chris Uba as its presidential candidate and Shamsuddin Barkindo as the vice-presidential candidate. He shared a document on INEC letterhead with the INEC logo and some screenshots he claimed were from the INEC portal.

But the recognized ADC faction has called this claim "a blatant lie." In a statement from its spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party urged Nigerians not to be misled by Bala's claims.

“Where is the evidence of this purported upload by a group of individuals not known by law or the electoral body?” the party asked.

INEC speaks

On Monday, Mr Haruna spoke to PREMIUM TIMES by phone. He said he contacted all directors at the commission, and no one knows about Bala’s claim. The INEC spokesperson confirmed that the commission only gave login details to Mr Mark’s group.

He also said that the candidates presented by the ADC are Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate and Rotimi Amaechi as the vice-presidential candidate.

ADC’s previous saga

Last year, Bala, who was the former vice chairman of the ADC, filed a lawsuit against Mr Mark’s leadership. He insisted that he should be the party’s national chairman after Ralph Nwosu, the former chairman, resigned. This led to a short suspension of the party’s recognition by INEC.

Earlier this year, the party expelled Bala during its convention. After recognizing Mr Mark as the national chairman, the party uploaded the names of Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi as its presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Read ADC’s full statement

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) wants to inform the media and the public about false reports claiming that a group led by Mr Nafiu Bala Gombe has uploaded names of candidates to the INEC nomination portal. This claim is a blatant lie. It is easy to verify this.

INEC does not give access to the nomination portal or nomination codes to a leadership it does not recognize. Also, the commission will not give two codes to the same party. If that happened, anyone could upload names and claim to be the real leadership of a party. This is not how the law or the Commission’s processes work.

So the question is simple: where is the evidence of this upload by a group not recognized by law or by the electoral body? We are also formally bringing to the attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) what looks like forgery and unauthorized use of documents that seem to come from the Commission. This could create confusion and hurt public trust in its integrity as Nigeria’s electoral body. We hope the Commission will investigate this matter and take the right steps to correct this misrepresentation.