A faction of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop the party’s planned Congresses scheduled for April 7-14, 2026 and restrain Senator David Mark and his committee from parading themselves as ADC leaders.

The call was made in a petition to INEC by a chieftain of the party in Cross River State, Dr MacFarlane Ejah while briefing the media in Calabar on Tuesday on what he termed attempts to impose an Interim National Caretaker Committee on the party.

The faction also called on INEC to ensure that any leadership transition in the ADC follows the strict prescriptions of our 2018 Constitution and the electoral act

Ejah, who is the Vice Chairman (Central), & Director Policy and Strategy said the 2018 Constitution of the ADC does not recognize “Interim” or “Caretaker” structures

According to him, Article 18 (i and ii) and Article 17 (c) are unambiguous: officers at all levels-from the Ward to the National stage-must be produced through elective Congresses.

“The 2026 Electoral Act [section 82(4)] reinforces this by mandating that political parties must operate through democratically elected organs.

“There is no “emergency power” in our Constitution that allows a group of individuals to bypass the ballot box and appoint themselves as leaders. The presence of INEC officials at that meeting does not grant “legal life” to a process that was “dead on arrival.”

He said if an illegal leadership conducts the upcoming Congresses and Convention, every candidate they nominate will be legally flawed.

“I am deeply apprehensive that the Senator David Mark-led committee, being undemocratic and unconstitutional, cannot present valid candidates to INEC, We have seen parties in Nigeria lose entire states because their internal processes were faulty We will not allow the ADC to become a “Judicial casualty” in 2027, he warned.

“We are committed members of the ADC. We do not want our party enmeshed in a continuum of Illegality. We demand a return to the Status-Quo-Ante. We want a party where the voice of the mamber in the Ward is as powerful as the voice of the leader in Abuja.

We have given INEC a 7-day window to act. Should they remain derelict in their duty, we shall be heading to the High Court to command due compliance with the law.