Leaders and members of the African Democratic Congress participated in a massive protest in Abuja today Wednesday, opposing the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregognize the David Mark led National Working Committee.
The protest, tagged #OccupyINEC, attracted former presidential candidates and notable politicians, Rotimi Amaechi, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and Rauf Aregbesola, with hundreds of Kwankwasiyya members also taking part.
Speaking during the protest, former presidential candidate Peter Obi addressed the crowd on behalf of ADC members and other opposition leaders, urging Nigerians to defend the country’s democracy and to say no to a purported one-party system.
The protest followed INEC’s recent decision to stop accepting correspondence from either faction of the ADC led by Senator David Mark or Nafiu Bala, after a Court of Appeal ruling on the party’s leadership dispute.
ADC and other opposition groups described the move as a restriction on party autonomy and an interference with internal party affairs.
