2027 Politics Watch: From ADC’s court appeal to APGA’s Tinubu endorsement

A letter bearing INEC’s receipt stamp shows ADC lawyers asked the commission to hold off on implementing the ruling that voided Atiku Abubakar’s nomination. In Awka, Chukwuma Soludo reaffirmed APGA’s support for Bola Tinubu as the party launched its own legislative campaign.

Lawyers for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday to hold off on implementing the judgement that voided Atiku Abubakar’s presidential nomination.

In Awka, Governor Chukwuma Soludo reaffirmed the All Progressives Grand Alliance’s (APGA) support for President Bola Tinubu at the party’s national campaign launch. APGA will campaign for Mr Tinubu in the presidential race and seek votes for its own legislative candidates.

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled on Thursday that the David Mark-led caretaker leadership was unlawfully constituted. He directed INEC to disregard decisions of the party’s 99th National Executive Committee meeting and subsequent acts under that leadership.

The order covered governorship and legislative nominations as well as the presidential ticket. Mr Gombe, a former ADC deputy national chairman for the North-East, argued that the party’s constitution entitled him to succeed Ralph Nwosu as chairman.

In the letter dated 6 November, counsel Shaibu Enejoh Aruwa, SAN, asked INEC to await the outcome of the appeal and said the Federal High Court had yet to hear the stay motion.

Under Section 17 of the Court of Appeal Act, filing an appeal does not, by itself, operate as a stay of execution. No order granting a stay had been independently verified by Friday night.

The letter and a statement by Phrank Shaibu, director of strategic communication for the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, gave the suit number as FHC/ABJ/CS/1619/2025.

A certified interim ruling reported in September 2025 identified Mr Gombe’s case as FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025. The letter lists the notice of appeal and stay motion as enclosures.

The available copy contains only the covering letter, and registry-stamped copies of the filings were unavailable, so the numbers could not be reconciled.

Kennedy Odion, secretary of the ADC National Executive Committee Chairmen Forum, asked INEC to reopen its nominations portal so the party could submit names after any fresh primaries. The forum threatened nationwide protests if the commission failed to act.

INEC disowned a poster claiming it had reaffirmed Mr Mark’s leadership. It said the poster used its logo and a photograph of National Commissioner Mohammed Kudu Haruna without authorisation.

Mr Haruna, who chairs INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, told Daily Trust in a report published on Friday that the commission had yet to receive a certified copy of the judgement and had yet to discuss the case.

A check of INEC’s party directory on Saturday, 7 November, still showed Mr Mark as the ADC’s national chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as national secretary. The commission had yet to say how it would apply Thursday’s judgment to the party’s leadership record and candidate lists.

In a statement dated 6 November, Atiku insisted he remained in the race and said his campaign would continue to focus on food prices, fuel costs and insecurity. He accused the Tinubu administration of using the courts to limit electoral competition.

The statement offered no evidence that the administration influenced the case. ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi told Africa Independent Television that the party would keep its campaign organisation in place.

Felix Morka, the All Progressives Congress (APC) national publicity secretary, denied that the party had any role in the case.

He said the suit arose from a dispute among ADC members over how Mr Mark’s group assumed control, and urged the party to pursue an appeal.

APGA’s national chairman, Sly Ezeokenwa, said in March that the party’s National Working Committee supported the alignment and that formal adoption awaited a convention.

At Friday’s launch at Alex Ekwueme Square, Mr Soludo said APGA would field no presidential candidate and set a target of 50 per cent of Anambra’s votes for Mr Tinubu.

He said a stronger vote would give the state greater leverage in seeking federal projects.

Mr Tinubu received 5,111 votes in Anambra in 2023, less than one per cent of the valid votes. Peter Obi, then the Labour Party candidate, received 584,621 votes. APGA’s own candidate, Peter Umeadi, received 7,388. The presidential and National Assembly elections are both scheduled for 16 January 2027.

APGA presented flags to 44 legislative candidates at the launch, including three for the Senate and 11 for the House of Representatives.

Mr Ezeokenwa urged them to campaign on APGA’s manifesto. Its 30 state assembly candidates are due to contest on 6 February.

In Ekiti, reports of Thursday’s rally described a different arrangement. Politicians who ran for governor under the Peoples Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party and Allied Peoples Movement pledged support for Mr Tinubu in their individual capacities.

At the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Mr Tinubu said Mr Obi had failed to tackle erosion as governor of Anambra. He said he had “confronted the Atlantic Ocean” in Lagos. Vice-President Kashim Shettima accused Mr Obi of using unreliable statistics, without identifying a specific figure in the reported remarks.

A response from Mr Obi to the Uyo remarks could not be verified by Friday night.

As Anambra governor, Mr Obi urged the World Bank in 2012 to speed up erosion-control work in the South-East. The bank approved an erosion and watershed project that year, with Anambra among its first seven participating states.

Governor Umo Eno asked Mr Tinubu to facilitate the Ibom Deep Seaport and pledged to deliver two million votes for him if the federal government did so. Mr Tinubu announced his approval. The federal concession regulator’s 2020 annual report records that a preferred bidder had already been selected by the time the Federal Executive Council approved the project’s full business case on 16 December 2020. The State House account of Friday’s announcement gave no financing terms or start date.

Construction had not yet begun earlier in the week, when Michael Enyong, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom, told PREMIUM TIMES he would move the port from the Ibeno area to Ibaka and begin construction within 90 days of taking office if elected.