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A disagreement has ensued between the camp of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Daily Sun reports that the disagreement stems from the veracity of claims made by a factional National Chairman of ADC, Nafiu Bala Gombe, that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) granted nomination portal access to his group.
Gombe noted that he had succeeded in uploading the names of group’s presidential and other candidates on INEC’s portal.
In a Monday statement signed by Atiku Media Office, the ADC presidential candidate alleged that INEC granted a nomination portal access code to Gombe despite recognising the David Mark-led leadership of the ADC.
According to the statement, Gombe’s claim that his group uploaded candidates’ names could only have been possible if the commission had issued it an access code, and accused INEC of bias.
The media office said the claim was worsened by INEC’s decision to keep mum on the matter.
But in a different statement, the Mark-led ADC leadership debunked Gombe’s claim of INEC portal access and subsequent upload of candidates’ details.
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National Publicity Secretary of ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi said the electoral umpire only issues portal access to the party leadership it recognises.
Abdullahi said, “The African Democratic Congress (ADC) wishes to draw the attention of the media and the general public to false reports claiming that a group led by Mr. Nafiu Bala Gombe has uploaded the names of a presidential candidate and other nominees to the INEC nomination portal. The claim is a blatant lie. And it is quite easy to verify why.
“INEC does not issue nomination portal access or nomination codes to a leadership it does not recognise. Secondly, the Commission will not issue two codes to the same party.
“Otherwise, every impostor would simply upload names to the portal and proclaim themselves the authentic leadership of a political party. That is plainly not how the law or the Commission’s processes work.”
ADC said evidence of this purported upload by a “group of individuals not known by law or the electoral body” must be produced.
“We are also, by this statement, formally drawing the attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to what appears to be the forgery and unauthorised use of documents purportedly emanating from the Commission in a manner capable of creating confusion and undermining public confidence in its integrity and reputation as Nigeria’s electoral umpire.
“We trust that the Commission will investigate this matter and take the necessary steps to correct this blatant misrepresentation,” Abdullahi’s statement further reads.
