Independent National Electoral Commission, on Thursday, reinstated the names of former Senate President David Mark and ex-Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola on its official portal as recognised leaders of the African Democratic Congress.
This development signals a major shift in the protracted leadership crisis rocking the ADC.
Also listed on the commission’s portal are Dr Mani Ibrahim Ahmed as National Treasurer, Akibu Dalhatu as National Financial Secretary, and Prof Oserheimhen Osunbor as National Legal Adviser.
The update, which appeared on INEC’s website on Thursday, effectively restores Mark as National Chairman and Aregbesola as National Secretary, weeks after the commission withheld recognition of any faction amid escalating legal disputes.
The development follows the judgment of the Supreme Court, which voided an earlier order that had frozen the party’s leadership structure and created a vacuum within the ADC.
INEC had, in the heat of the crisis, declined to recognise both camps laying claim to the party’s leadership, citing subsisting court orders and the need to maintain neutrality pending judicial clarification.
“We will be guided strictly by the law and valid court pronouncements in determining recognised leadership of political parties,” the commission had said at the time, a stance that effectively left the ADC without an officially acknowledged national leadership on its records.
The controversy stemmed from a bitter internal struggle that pitched the Mark-led faction against a rival faction led by Nafiu Bala.
Subsequent court actions triggered conflicting orders and forced INEC to suspend recognition of any leadership pending judicial clarification
At one stage, conflicting orders from lower courts and a “status quo” directive issued by the Court of Appeal compounded the uncertainty, prompting INEC to suspend recognition altogether to avoid contempt.
But the Supreme Court set aside the appellate court’s status quo order, describing it as unwarranted after the substantive matter had been struck out, and ruled that such interim directives could not subsist in a vacuum.
With the Supreme Court declining to make a conclusive pronouncement on the substantive leadership dispute and instead returning the matter to the Federal High Court, the ADC crisis remains unresolved, despite the latest administrative recognition.
Reacting to the judgment, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar welcomed the Supreme Court’s affirmation of David Mark’s leadership of the African Democratic Congress but cautioned against complacency, saying the broader political struggle remains unresolved.
