Court to deliver judgement in ADC leadership dispute

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday fixed 13 April for judgment in a suit filed by a member of the House of Representatives, Leke Abejide, seeking to restrain former Senate President David Mark and former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola from parading themselves as National Chairman and National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

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The judge, Musa Liman, fixed the date for judgement after lawyers representing various sides in the case made their final submissions, presenting their opposing positions on the dispite at Friday’s hearing.

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 as first to fifth defendants respectively.

Mr Abejide asked the court to nullify the alleged handover of the party’s leadership from Mr Nwosu to Mr Mark as the interim national chairman of the party and Mr Aregbesola as interim national secretary.

He argued that the transfer of leadership, said to have taken place on 2 July 2025 at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, was illegal, unlawful, null and void.

The plaintiff also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining Messrs Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as leaders of the party on the grounds that their emergence did not comply with the law.

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He further urged the court to restrain INEC from recognising them as party officials. He contends that their appointment did not meet the requirements of Section 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022.

However, the defendants, through their lawyers, urged the court to dismiss the suit for lack of merit.

The defence lawyers, including those representing the ADC and the INEC, opposed the suit.

While ADC was represented by Shaibu Aruwa, who is also a SAN, Mr Nwosu was represented by lawyer, P. I. Oyewole.

Mr Mark was represented by Realwan Okpanachi and Mr Aregbesola was represented by I. R. Abdullahi. INEC was represented by Anthony Onyeri.

The defence lawyers argued, among others, that Abejide lacked locus standi to institute the action and that the issues raised bordered on the internal affairs of a political party, which are not justiciable.

The defendants further contended that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

They also maintained that, contrary to the plaintiff’s claim, the Mark-led committee emerged from a National Executive Committee meeting of the party held on 29 July 2025, and not 2 July 2025.

They described the suit as academic and urged the court to dismiss it with substantial costs.

INEC’s lawyer also told the court that the commission filed an eight-paragraph counter-affidavit with an exhibit marked INEC-1 in opposition to the suit and urged the court to dismiss the case.

ADC leadership crisis and protests

The leadership crisis in the party began after the resignation of the party’s former executives led by Mr Nwosu and the emergence of a new National Working Committee led by Mr Mark on 29 July 2025.

The development triggered a legal challenge when Nafiu Bala, a former vice-national chairperson of the party, filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking recognition as the party’s rightful leader under its constitution.

INEC was joined as the fourth defendant in the suit.

While the case was pending, the Federal High Court ordered all parties to maintain the status quo pending determination of the substantive suit.

The Court of Appeal later dismissed an interlocutory appeal filed by the Mark-led faction and ordered all parties, including INEC, to maintain the status quo earlier ordered by the Federal High Court, pending further determination of the matter.

The Court of Appeal’s decision later became central to the dispute over the party’s leadership structure.

Following the ruling, INEC received letters from both factions on 16 March.

The Mark-led faction asked the commission not to recognise Mr Bala and to maintain its position pending resolution of the dispute, while the Bala faction asked INEC to give effect to the Court of Appeal judgment of 12 March in its favour.

INEC later removed the names of Mr Mark as national chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as national secretary from its website on 1 April.

The dispute later escalated into a protest in Abuja, where party members accused INEC of bias and warned that the handling of the crisis threatened internal democracy within the party.

Mark-led ADC challenges INEC actions in court

In another development, the Mark-led leadership also approached the same Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to reverse the decision of INEC, by removing its leadership from the commission’s official records and portal.

In a motion on notice filed on 7 April through his lawyer Sulaiman Usman SAN, Mr Mark asked the court for a mandatory injunction setting aside INEC’s action and restoring the names of the party’s National Working Committee in its records pending determination of the substantive suit.

He also sought an order directing INEC to resume recognition of the party’s leadership and to monitor its congresses and other internal processes.

The application was brought on the ground that the Court of Appeal had ordered parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum, which the applicants said referred to the leadership structure existing before the dispute.

The Mark-led faction argued that INEC misinterpreted the appellate court’s decision when it withdrew recognition of its leadership, saying the action created a vacuum and disrupted the party’s administration.

The team also sought accelerated hearing of the suit and argued that the dispute raised fundamental issues affecting the party’s structure and political participation, and required urgent determination to prevent further institutional uncertainty.

The legal battle is playing out amid criticism by Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) of courts’ intrusion into internal affairs of political parties.

The NBA, in a statement signed by its president, Afam Osigwe, on Friday, expressed grave concerns over increasing interference of the courts in such matters.

“This emerging trend of subverting the clear letters of the Electoral Act and dragging courts into the internal affairs of political parties through disingenuous litigation, forum shopping, and mala fide applications designed to secure undemocratic political advantage, bodes no good for our democracy,” the statement said.

“Such practices, if not immediately curbed, would directly contradict the clear intendment of the Electoral Act and risk transforming the judicial processes into avenues for political score-settling or electoral manipulation.”