INEC has no justification for removing Mark’s name as ADC chair — Atiku
By: Abudu Olalekan
Outspoken ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar hits back at election officials, arguing they gave no valid cause for dropping David Mark from leading the ADC. Though once Senate head, Mark now finds himself erased without clear explanation, a move Abubakar refuses to accept quietly. With sharp words, he challenges INEC’s authority on the matter, calling their decision baseless. Not one to stay silent, he questions how such a change can stand when proper grounds seem missing. His stance stands firm – removal demands justification, something yet unseen.
Back on April 1, INEC said it wouldn’t acknowledge Mark’s role as head of the party anymore, nor the group following Nafiu Bala. This followed a Court of Appeal instruction telling political groups to return exactly to their earlier state – the way they stood before legal proceedings began in the Federal High Court.
Out of nowhere, Atiku pointed at INEC during a BBC Newsday chat last Saturday, claiming they stepped too far by reading into the appeals court’s temporary decision about his party’s matters. Not judges, yet they acted like it – that was his take. The courtroom already spelled out what the rules meant, so why jump in? That question hung there. He didn’t hold back calling their actions one-sided either
When questioned if the suspected bias intended to keep President Bola Tinubu in office, Atiku held nothing back. Without hesitation, he said: “Definitely.” .
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) argued that INEC’s actions fly in the face of Supreme Court rulings, which make clear that internal party matters shouldn’t be interfered with by outside bodies. “The commission has not acted according to law,” he said. “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.”
Names vanishing from the site? Atiku says INEC gave no real reason. Not some clerical error, in his view. More like a red flag waving hard. Dictatorship – that word fits now, according to him – after proof surfaced of state meddling, not only in votes but inside courtrooms too
Years gone by, the ADC leader opened up about his own journey – four decades poured into pushing for democratic roots across Nigeria. These days, worry creeps in as he sees the current government moving hard to unravel what was slowly put together.
Free and fair votes matter most, he said – without state meddling. A neutral referee must run them, someone the public believes in. Trust counts when choosing leaders.
On national security, Atiku sounded worried. Things, he said, are getting worse, and he’s not convinced the government has the capacity – or the will – to deal with it. “Nigeria is a vast country, and admittedly so,” he said. “But we also have in terms of manpower what it takes to have enough resources to counter terrorism and illegal activities going on in the country.”
“It is quite ironic and surprising that Nigeria cannot mobilise its armed forces to counter these activities.”
He went further, suggesting there might even be collusion in the fight against insecurity. “You cannot travel; there is no security everywhere,” he said. “It’s absolutely uncalled for. Nigeria has a huge population and young, educated men who can be employed in the security services and protect the country, but that is not happening. They scare people and do what they want to do.”
Atiku also took aim at rising unemployment, warning that joblessness is feeding crime. “Unemployment is very prevalent in Nigeria today,” he said. “There is no basis for that. Nigeria has enough resources to ensure there is minimal unemployment. We have vast unemployed young men and women, and there is a tendency for them to go into crime.”
Not enough jobs come from business growth, so he pushed for better rewards to spark hiring. Investment sits ready in companies, he noted. Job-making support reaches those firms already. What matters comes down to how help gets used
Hope remains alive for Atiku. In his view, come 2027, Nigerians will pick leaders who actually matter.
