Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has launched a stinging attack on the Independent National Electoral Commission, accusing the electoral body of acting outside its legal authority and displaying clear bias in its decision to stop recognising former Senate President David Mark as the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, describing the move as evidence of a creeping dictatorship under the current administration.
Atiku, who was the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, made the accusations during an interview on BBC Newsday aired on Saturday, where he argued that INEC had misread and misapplied a Court of Appeal directive in a manner that served political interests rather than the rule of law.
The controversy arose after INEC announced on April 1 that it would no longer recognise the leadership of either the Mark-led faction or the Nafiu Bala-led faction of the ADC, following a Court of Appeal order directing parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum, referring to the situation that existed before the case was filed at the Federal High Court. The electoral body's interpretation of that order effectively wiped out recognition of Mark's leadership on its official platforms, a decision that has since drawn fierce condemnation from opposition figures and legal minds across the country.
Atiku told the BBC that INEC had no business interpreting the court's ruling, insisting that the appellate court had already done that work and that the commission's intervention amounted to a usurpation of judicial authority driven by institutional bias. "We are accusing them of misinterpreting the law, even though it is not their responsibility to do that. The court has already interpreted the law. We are also accusing them of bias," he said.
When asked by the BBC presenter whether the alleged bias was directed at keeping President Bola Tinubu in power beyond 2027, the former vice-president answered without hesitation. "For sure," he said.
Atiku further argued that INEC's actions were in direct contradiction of settled Supreme Court jurisprudence, which holds that the internal affairs of political parties are beyond the reach of any external agency, including the electoral commission. He said the commission had deliberately ignored this body of law, handed down by the highest court in the land, in favour of an interpretation that served the political calculations of the ruling establishment. "The commission has not acted according to law because we have a number of cases decided even by the Supreme Court that the internal affairs of political parties are not the prerogative of any agency other than the political parties themselves, but they have ignored the ruling of the highest court in the land," he said.
The former vice-president went further, accusing the government of interference not only in the electoral process but in the judicial process as well, and warning that Nigeria's hard-won democratic gains were under serious threat. He said he had spent four decades of his life fighting to establish democracy in Nigeria and would not stand by while the ruling party attempted to completely overturn those gains. "We call it dictatorship because we have seen evidence of government interference in the electoral process, even in the judicial process in the country," he said.
Beyond the ADC crisis, Atiku also used the interview to raise the alarm over the deteriorating security situation across the country, expressing disbelief that a nation of Nigeria's size, population and military manpower remained unable to decisively confront terrorism and banditry. He hinted at possible state complicity in the persistence of insecurity, suggesting that the situation may be deliberately allowed to fester as a tool for intimidating ordinary citizens, particularly farmers and business owners. He also sounded the alarm on rising unemployment, warning that a vast pool of idle and educated young men and women was an open invitation to criminality and social unrest, and called on the government to urgently create incentives for private sector job creation. He closed by expressing confidence that Nigerians would make the right choices at the ballot box in 2027.
0 Comments