{"id":198293,"date":"2026-04-03T20:41:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T20:49:17","slug":"wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe","title":{"rendered":"Wike Urges INEC to Recognize Nafiu Bala Gombe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should have recognized Nafiu Bala Gombe as the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC.<\/p>\n

Wike stated this while speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on Friday.<\/p>\n

The minister was speaking about the ongoing crisis in the ADC as he categorically stated that the political party should be happy that INEC didn\u2019t recognize any of the party members until they sort their matter in court.<\/p>\n

Wike\u2019s reaction follows INEC\u2019s decision to remove the names of former Senate President David Mark and former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola from its portal as National Chairman and National Secretary of the ADC, respectively.<\/p>\n

The commission also said it would not recognise Bala Gombe, who is seeking to be declared national chairman through the courts.<\/p>\n

INEC said it has suspended recognition of all factions within the party and will not monitor any conventions or congresses organised by the rival groups, pending the final determination of a substantive suit before the Federal High Court.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the development, Wike said, \u201cIn my own opinion, INEC, by that judgment, ought to have recognized Bala Gombe as the ADC national chairman.<\/p>\n

\u201cADC should be happy that INEC said, \u2018Look, we are not going to recognize any of you until you sort your matter in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, ADC had accused INEC of acting in violation of the law and taking sides in the party\u2019s ongoing leadership dispute.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should have recognized Nafiu Bala Gombe as the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC. Wike stated this while speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on Friday. The minister was speaking about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":198292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-198293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nWike Urges INEC to Recognize Nafiu Bala Gombe - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commis ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wike Urges INEC to Recognize Nafiu Bala Gombe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commis ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-03T19:41:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-03T20:49:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/sm_1775249312.00613.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"719\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Wike Urges INEC to Recognize Nafiu Bala Gombe\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-03T19:41:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T20:49:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe\"},\"wordCount\":273,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/sm_1775249312.00613.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/wike-urges-inec-to-recognize-nafiu-bala-gombe\",\"name\":\"Wike Urges INEC to Recognize Nafiu Bala Gombe - 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