It has emerged that the Nigerian National Coalition Group (NNCG), led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, is not the only group applying for registration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), using the acronym ADA.
Another group, the Advanced Democratic Alliance, with the same ADA, also applied to the commission for registration as a political party.
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It is unclear if the commission would register the associations or in the process ask one of them to adjust their acronyms.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the Mr Atiku-led coalition applied to be registered as the All Democratic Alliance
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The chairperson of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday unveiled the list of the 110 political party applications received by the commission.
“As at Monday, 23rd June 2025, the Commission has received letters of intent from 110 associations that wish to register as political parties,” Mr Yakubu, a professor, said.
According to the list presented by Mr Yakubu, the Chairperson for Atiku’s ADA is Akin Ricketts and Secretary Abdullahi Elayo.
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Meanwhile, the other ADA has Ahmadu Suleiman as Chairperson and Zipporah Miracle as Secretary.
While the Atiku’s group, which applied only recently is number 109 on the list, the Suleiman-led ADA is 110th position.
Re-enacting 2013 acronym “war”
In 2013, there was a similar confusion over acronym when the current ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) applied to INEC for registration.
That year, two other associations with the same acronym also applied to be registered as political parties. They were the African Peoples Congress (APC) and the All Patriotic Citizens (APC).
The latter two claimed they first submitted their applications to the electoral body before the new ruling party, which was a merger of some defunct opposition parties – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Parties (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
However, despite the protest by the two groups, INEC registered the APC led by a former Osun State Governor Bisi Akande, as a party. The party went ahead to win the 2015 election, the first to oust a sitting government at the federal level.
We’re processing registration’
Mr Yakubu said the electoral commission is diligently processing requests in line with its procedures, regulations and guidelines.
“We will treat all requests fairly irrespective of the status of their promoters, be they ordinary or prominent citizens. Nigerians will be fully briefed of the actions taken by the Commission every step of the way,” he said.
READ ALSO: INEC receives 110 applications for new parties, begins registration process
Mr Yakubu also denied claims that the commission is delaying other political party registrations.
“We have acknowledged all requests received so far except six of them received recently which will be done before the end of the week. For emphasis, I wish to inform Nigerians, particularly those interested in registering new political parties, that the handbook containing the Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022 is already available on the commission’s website,” he added.
He said similar allegations were made against the commission in 2013 that it was not keen on the then proposed merger of political parties as it was accused of siding with the then ruling party.
“For the record, the present commission registered the largest number of political parties in Nigeria strictly following the provision of the electoral legal framework,” he said.
He explained that the commission registered 91 political parties for the 2019 general elections and 73 presidential candidates.
After the 2019 elections, INEC deregistered 73 political parties leaving the remaining 18
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