The promoter of the All Democratic Alliance and League of Northern Nigeria, Dr. Umar Ardo, has declared that the registration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress by the Independent National Electoral Commission will be cancelled through court proceedings, alleging that the party secured its recognition through what he described as a legally irregular process that violated the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and INEC’s own guidelines.
Ardo, a close ally of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, said legal proceedings were already underway to challenge the NDC’s registration, expressing confidence that the court would set aside the commission’s decision once the full circumstances of how the party obtained recognition were examined.
He alleged that the NDC secured its certificate through a court judgment despite clear non-compliance with statutory requirements, noting that the party completed the entire registration process in 33 days, a timeline he described as implausibly swift compared to the painstaking process other political associations were required to complete. He said INEC’s decision not to appeal the court judgment and its swift issuance of the certificate had compounded suspicions about the process.
Ardo also raised concerns about the delayed disclosure of the judgment that ordered NDC’s registration. “The judgment was secured on 3rd December, 2025, but INEC never announced it till 5th February, 2026,” he said, arguing that the gap raised serious questions about transparency and intent.
His central concern, he said, was strategic rather than personal. “A legally vulnerable party like NDC could expose opposition figures to future legal and political disruption. This naturally leads to a broader hypothesis that the NDC may inadvertently or deliberately serve to fragment and weaken the opposition, ultimately benefiting the ruling APC,” he said.
He urged opposition figures and Nigerians broadly to scrutinize the NDC’s legal foundation carefully before aligning with it, warning that building political investments on a constitutionally unstable platform could prove costly as 2027 approached.
