By Abiola Olawale
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has announced a massive influx of over 500,000 new members nationwide.
This surge comes just days after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued a controversial directive withdrawing recognition from the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
Despite the legal and administrative hurdles posed by the electoral body, the ADC leadership described the recent “derecognition” as a catalyst that has instead ignited a grassroots movement across the 36 states and the FCT.
Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made this known on Sunday.
“Between 7:00 PM on April 1st, when @inecnigeria released its statement, and 5:00 PM today, over half a million (500,000) new Nigerians have joined the ADC,” he wrote.
The ADC spokesperson also made a similar post on Thursday, saying that over 40,000 members have registered to join the party following INEC’s move.
“Between 7:00 PM last night when the INEC Statement came out, and 7:00 AM this morning, over 40,000 people have registered to join ADC on http://adcregistration.ng,” he posted.
During a press conference on Thursday, the party had accused INEC of deliberate misinterpretation of the appeal court judgement, calling for the immediate removal of Joash Amupitan, national chairman of the electoral body.
The party said INEC can no longer be trusted, describing its actions as unlawful and partisan.
However, the commission defended its decision, saying it was guided by the court of appeal judgment and driven by the need to uphold the rule of law.
In a statement on Thursday, Adedayo Oketola, chief press secretary (CPS) to Amupitan, said the decision was taken to prevent situations like those in Zamfara and Plateau states where elected officials were removed by the election tribunal for disobeying court judgments.
