The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday dismissed a suit challenging the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) led by former Senate President David Mark, holding that the party’s new leadership emerged in line with its constitution and the law.
In a judgment, Judge Musa Liman upheld the preliminary objections filed by the ADC, its former National Chairperson, Ralph Nwosu, Mr Mark and the party’s National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, against the suit instituted by Leke Abejide, a member of the House of Representatives.
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Mr Abejide, who represents Yagba Federal Constituency in Kogi State on the platform of the ADC, instituted the suit through his lawyer, Ibrahim Idris, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
The suit, filed on 15 February, listed the ADC, its former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, Mr Mark, Mr Aregbesola and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the defendants.
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PREMIUM TIMES reported that the court had initially fixed 13 April for judgement after lawyers adopted their final written addresses. However, the court did not deliver the judgment on the scheduled date and later fixed Thursday for the ruling.
Lack of jurisdiction
Deciding the case on Thursday, the judge held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit because it bordered on the internal affairs of a political party, making it non-justiciable.
He also ruled that Mr Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit because he failed to establish that the emergence of the party’s new leadership infringed any of his rights.
Judge Liman further held that the lawmaker failed to exhaust the ADC’s internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court.
The judge also resolved all three issues raised in the substantive suit in favour of the defendants.
On whether Mr Mark and Mr Aregbesola emerged as the party’s leaders in compliance with the relevant laws, Judge Liman resolved the issue against Mr Abejide.
He held that Mr Nwosu’s handover of the party’s leadership to Mr Mark did not contravene the ADC constitution.
The court also agreed with the defendants that the meeting held on 2 July 2025 was a stakeholders’ meeting that preceded the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of 29 July 2025, where Mr Mark and Mr Aregbesola emerged as the party’s leaders in a process monitored by INEC.
Judge Liman consequently held that the emergence of Mr Mark and Mr Aregbesola complied with the ADC constitution, the Electoral Act, 2022 and the party’s rules.
The court awarded costs of N2 million against Mr Abejide in favour of each of the defendants.
The judge also awarded N10 million in costs against Mr Abejide’s lawyer in accordance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
Background
Mr Abejide filed the suit after challenging the emergence of former Senate President Mark and former Osun State Governor Aregbesola as the party’s interim national chairperson and interim national secretary.
The lawmaker argued that the handover of the party’s leadership by Mr Nwosu to Messers Mark and Aregbesola at a stakeholders’ meeting held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on 2 July 2025 violated the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act, 2022.
He asked the court to nullify the handover, restrain the two leaders from parading themselves as party officials and stop INECfrom recognising them.
The defendants, however, argued that Mr Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit and that the dispute bordered on the internal affairs of a political party, which the courts lack jurisdiction to determine.
They also maintained that Messers Mark and Aregbesola did not emerge at the 2 July stakeholders’ meeting but at the party’s National Executive Committee meeting held on 29 July 2025, which was monitored by INEC.
The judgment is the latest in a series of legal challenges that have followed the emergence Mr Mark as the leader of ADC after the party became the platform adopted by a coalition of opposition politicians ahead of the 2027 general elections.
PREMIUM TIMES previously reported that the crisis began after the resignation of the party’s former executives led by Ralph Nwosu and the emergence of a new National Executive Committee led by Mr Mark and Mr Aregbesola at a meeting held on 29 July 2025.
The development divided the party and triggered multiple court cases challenging the legitimacy of the new leadership.
One of the suits was filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former national vice chairperson of the ADC, who argued that he should assume the party’s leadership under its constitution.
The dispute reached the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal ordered all parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the case.
However, the Supreme Court later ruled in favour of Mr Mark, setting aside the Court of Appeal’s order directing parties to maintain the status quo and returning the substantive suit to the Federal High Court for hearing.
The case was subsequently reassigned to Judge Peter Lifu.
