Trending 
A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Farouq Aliyu, has refuted allegations suggesting that the party influenced the recent ruling by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), discontinuing the recognition of the former senator David Mark-led faction of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and that of Nafiu Gombe, who claims he ought to be the party’s national chairman.
When INEC made the announcement on Wednesday, ADC members and supporters accused the APC of stoking an internal crisis within the party and colluding with INEC.
But the APC chieftain refuted these claims and urged Nigerians to dispel the narrative, while speaking with Arise News on Thursday.
“But I can assure you and the whole country that APC has nothing to do with this. And I honestly think INEC too is not, cannot be blamed, I mean, it must, it should be blamed for what’s happening. Because why does it take INEC about two weeks or so to come up with the decision, because if I remember very well, this decision came about two or three weeks back,” said Aliyu.
“And I don’t know why they, you know, they waited this long to do what they did. And INEC should try to be seen to be apolitical, should try not to overheat the polity. The decision was on March 12th. And today it’s the 2nd of April.”
The ADC has been facing a leadership tussle between factions: one led by Mark and another rival faction that claims to lead the party. A Court of Appeal judgment on the party’s leadership dispute said the party should maintain the status quo ante bellum, which means the situation as it was before the case began, while the matter continues in a lower court.
The court gave the ruling on March 12. INEC withdrew recognition of the Mark‑led faction as the official leadership of the ADC two weeks after the judgment.
Aliyu also demanded an explanation from INEC on why it took the agency two weeks after the court ruling to discontinue the recognition of the David Mark-led faction of the ADC.
“So, INEC should quickly, as quickly as possible, come up with the explanation. Because they owe it to us. They owe it to Nigerians to explain why these kinds of things are coming at this time. And we in the APC don’t want anybody to have this kind of impression that my brother is saying that we are colluding,” he added.
