The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Joash Amupitan, has cautioned the African Democratic Congress against proceeding with its planned congresses and national convention without INEC's supervision. Speaking in a Friday interview on Arise TV, Amupitan stated that the commission's derecognition of the ADC leadership linked to former Senate President David Mark and ex-Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola was based on an active court order, not administrative whim. He emphasized that the judiciary had directed political parties to avoid actions that could sabotage ongoing legal proceedings. "Don't do anything. Don't take any step that will render any proceeding before the court nugatory," he said.
Amupitan referenced past electoral disruptions in Zamfara and Plateau States, where defiance of court orders led to the invalidation of election outcomes. In such cases, the candidate with the second-highest votes was eventually declared winner after courts nullified the results. He warned that any convention held in defiance of the current court directive could jeopardize the party's future election outcomes. While acknowledging the ADC's autonomy in internal affairs, he stressed that INEC would not be complicit in a repeat of avoidable electoral crises. "They are at liberty to do whatever they want to do, but INEC do not want to go into this situation again," he said.
Joash Amupitan is not just issuing a warning—he is publicly shifting the blame for potential electoral chaos onto the ADC leadership. By citing Zamfara and Plateau, he reminds political actors that court defiance has real consequences, not abstract risks. For Nigerians, this means another election could be overturned not by voters, but by procedural missteps. The real cost is borne not by party elites, but by ordinary citizens who lose faith in the process.
