The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed claims by the factional chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nafiu Bala Gombe, that his group uploaded candidates for the party ahead of the 2027 general election.

The commission insisted that only the leadership headed by former Senate President David Mark was granted access to the nomination portal.

National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, told The Guardian on Tuesday that Bala’s claim could not be true because INEC provided nomination portal access only to the Mark-led leadership, which the commission recognised based on court decisions.

“That’s not true. We had granted access only to the Sen. Mark faction based on the Supreme Court ruling which said he was the legitimate leader of the party,” Haruna said.

He added: “By the time of yesterday’s Court of Appeal judgement, the party had submitted the names and particulars of 406 candidates for the various offices at the national level.”

The clarification followed claims by Bala that his faction had uploaded the particulars of Prof. Chris Uba and Shamsuddin Barkindo as the ADC’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates respectively through INEC’s nomination portal.

Bala had also circulated documents bearing INEC’s letterhead and screenshots purportedly showing access to the commission’s portal.

But the ADC leadership recognised by INEC described the claim as false and challenged Bala to provide evidence that his group had been granted access to the portal.

The party called on INEC to investigate what it described as the alleged unauthorised use of documents purportedly emanating from the commission.

The dispute is the latest chapter in the leadership crisis rocking the ADC.

Last year, Bala, a former vice chairman of the ADC, instituted a lawsuit challenging David Mark’s leadership of the party, insisting he ought to be the party’s national chairman after the former occupant of the office, Ralph Nwosu, resigned.

The case led to a brief suspension of the party’s recognition by INEC.

Meanwhile, the party expelled Bala during the party’s convention earlier this year.

Following the recognition of Mark as the national chairman, the party recently uploaded recently uploaded the names of Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi as its presidential and vice presidential candidates