09/06/2026
*INEC HAS SPOKEN: ATTENDANCE AT A STAKEHOLDERS' MEETING IS NOT RECOGNITION*
The recent clarification by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has completely exposed the false narrative being promoted by those attempting to convert attendance at a routine stakeholders' meeting into a certificate of political legitimacy.
According to INEC's Deputy Director of Publicity, Mr. Wilfred Ifogah, invitations to such meetings are issued to political parties and not to individuals, factions, or competing groups within a political party. More importantly, INEC expressly stated that it neither determines nor verifies who attends on behalf of a party and that attendance at such meetings should never be interpreted as recognition of any particular faction.
This clarification is significant because it directly contradicts the propaganda that followed the recent stakeholders' engagement, where certain individuals rushed to portray their attendance as evidence that INEC had endorsed their leadership claims.
INEC could not have been clearer. The Commission stated that whoever a political party sends to represent it at such meetings is accepted for the purpose of the engagement. Attendance is therefore purely administrative and procedural. It is not recognition. It is not endorsement. It is certainly not a judicial declaration of legitimacy.
Even more importantly, INEC reaffirmed that internal leadership disputes within political parties are not matters for the Commission to determine. According to the Commission, such issues remain internal matters for political parties to resolve in accordance with their constitutions and the law.
This position is exactly what many stakeholders have consistently maintained from the beginning. Constitutional legitimacy cannot be acquired through photographs, attendance registers, press statements, or public relations campaigns. Legitimacy flows from constitutional compliance, lawful authority, and adherence to the rules governing the Party.
The PDP leadership question cannot be settled through media propaganda or carefully staged publicity exercises. It must be resolved through the Party's Constitution, democratic procedures, and the legal framework governing political parties.
It is therefore ironic that those who constantly claim victory are now attempting to elevate attendance at an ordinary stakeholders' meeting into evidence of constitutional legitimacy. If attendance at such meetings automatically conferred legitimacy, every representative of every political party present would become immune from constitutional scrutiny. Clearly, that is not how the law operates.
*The facts are now beyond dispute.*
*INEC invited the PDP as a political party.*
*INEC did not invite a faction.*
*INEC did not recognize a faction.*
*INEC did not endorse a faction.*
INEC merely conducted a routine stakeholders' engagement with registered political parties.
Those who hurried to celebrate attendance at the meeting as a political victory must now explain why INEC itself has publicly clarified that no such recognition was intended or granted.
The attempt to transform a routine administrative meeting into proof of legitimacy has therefore collapsed under the weight of INEC's own words.
This development should serve as a reminder that propaganda may dominate headlines for a day, but facts ultimately prevail. No photograph can substitute for constitutional legitimacy. No press statement can replace the PDP Constitution. No administrative engagement can override the rule of law.
The PDP remains bigger than any individual or faction. It deserves honesty, transparency, and respect for its constitutional processes.
*INEC has spoken.*
*The facts are clear.*
*Attendance is not recognition.*
*Presence is not legitimacy.*
*Propaganda is not law.
And no amount of political theatre can convert a routine stakeholders' meeting into a constitutional mandate.
