By Suleiman Anyalewechi
The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has stepped up its demand for the resignation of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC Prof Joash Amupitan, with a formal petition submitted on Wednesday.
The Source reports that the ADC had at a press briefing last week called for the resignation or sack of the INEC Chairman, following the electoral body’s decision to withdraw recognition for the Senator David Mark-led National Executive Committee NEC.
The Commission, in a statement on Wednesday April 1, through its National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee Mohammed Kudu Haruna had cited a subsisting Court of Appeal judgment ordering parties to maintain the status quo, pending the hearing and determination of a substantive motion before an Abuja Federal High Court on the leadership tussle bedeviling the party as a major reason for its action.
However ,the Mark-led ADC has accused the Prof Amupitan-led INEC of playing out a sinister script from the All Progressive Congress APC Federal Government , with the intent to stifle opposition ,and create a one-party situation ahead of the 2027 polls.
In a fresh letter of protest submitted on Wednesday , during the party’s match to the INEC National Headquarters, and jointly signed by Mark and Rauf Aregbesola, National Chairman and Secretary respectively, the ADC urged Amupitan to resign or prepare to face what it described as ” unprecedented,but lawful constitutional mechanism ,and coordinated civil unrest to get him out of office.
The party anchored its demand on Amupitan’s alleged partisan conduct, gross misconduct , constitutional breaches and threat to democracy.
In the protest letter dated April 8,2026 , the party expressed serious concern that the hard earned democracy in the Nigeria is currently facing existential threat from the Amupitan-led INEC.
The ADC strongly condemned and rejected most of the actions of the INEC Chairman since mounting the saddle, noting that he has so far proven beyond any reasonable doubt that he is not capable of occupying his present position.
“We write to convey our strongest condemnation of your recent actions and public statements which have further deepened concerns about your fitness to continue in office as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC.
“Your recent Media interview was not only disgraceful and unbecoming of the high office you occupy, but it also exposed a troubling willingness to descend into partisan controversy and to assume roles far outside the constitutional mandate of the Commission.
“Of grave concern is your attempt to constitute yourself into an interpreter of judicial pronouncements.
“This is wholly unacceptable. The interpretation of Court judgments is the exclusive preserve of the Judiciary. For the Chairman of INEC to publicly assume that role, offering partisan constructions of legal outcomes in a manner that appears to favour a particular individual, amounts to a serious constitutional breach and affront to the doctrine of separation of powers.
” Your conduct, taken together with INEC’s earlier correspondences to the African Democratic Congress ADC, reinforces the perception that the Commission under your leadership has abandoned neutrality and has instead aligned it’s with factional interests . This is not only improper; it is dangerous for the credibility of our electoral system.
“Furthermore, it is a matter of record that the individual in question attended the National Executive Committee NEC meeting of the ADC at which the National Working Committee NWC led by Chief Ralph Nwosu ,of which he was a member, was duly dissolved.
“Having participated in that decision ,any subsequent reliance on his former authority , position or signature is fundamentally flawed , contradictory and devoid of legal credibility..
“INEC’s posture in this regard raises serious questions about bias and institutional overreach”, the ADC stated .
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