- INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan warned ADC against holding congresses and convention without commission oversight
- The warning follows ADC’s insistence on proceeding despite INEC’s derecognition of a factional leadership
- The Commission said that its decision is based on a subsisting court order, not arbitrary action
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, has cautioned the African Democratic Congress (ADC) against proceeding with its planned congresses and national convention without the commission’s supervision.
Amupitan issued the warning on Friday, April 3, during an interview on Arise TV, following indications from the party that it would go ahead with its convention despite INEC’s derecognition of a factional leadership linked to David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola.
According to him, any such move could have serious legal implications, stressing that the commission’s position is based on an existing court order rather than arbitrary action.
“So if they are going ahead with their congress, with their convention, it’s left for them to look at it, whether it is in contravention of the court. INEC didn’t just take a decision. We didn’t just wake up one day and took this decision. There was something that led to it. There was an order of court,” he said.
Amupitan explained that the court had expressly directed parties to avoid any action that could undermine ongoing legal proceedings.
“Don’t do anything. Don’t take any step that will render any proceeding before the court nugatory,” Amupitan stated.
He further noted that the matter of conducting congresses and conventions is already before the court and remains unresolved.
“So, if already they are asking that don’t do any congress, don’t do any convention, it is a relief that is being claimed. And especially they filed a motion for that purpose, that motion has not been determined,” he added.
Drawing from past experiences, the INEC chairman warned that failure to comply with court directives could invalidate election outcomes, potentially handing victory to a runner-up.
“Let me tell you what happened in Zamfara. It happened in the past. We don’t want to conduct an election without this early warning, and at the end of the day, after you have won, the court again will come and declare the election invalid. And the implication is that the person with the second highest number of vote will be declared the winner,” he said.
He also referenced a similar situation in Plateau State where disregard for court orders had electoral consequences.
“It happened in Plateau State during the last election… failure to obey the court order has consequences,” Amupitan said.
While acknowledging the ADC’s autonomy in decision-making, Amupitan maintained that INEC would avoid being entangled in preventable disputes.
“They are at liberty to do whatever they want to do, but INEC do not want to go into this situation again,” he said.