Federal High Court in Abuja has validated the leadership of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, under former President of the Senate, David Mark, dismissing a suit challenging the party’s current leadership arrangement.
In a judgement delivered by Justice Musa Liman, the court upheld the preliminary objections filed by the party, its former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu, Mark, and National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola, ruling that the case lacked merit.
Justice Liman held that the dispute related strictly to the internal affairs of a political party, a matter the court lacks jurisdiction to determine.
The court further found that the plaintiff, House of Representatives member Leke Abejide, failed to establish the legal standing required to sustain the suit, noting that he did not show any direct violation of his rights arising from the leadership transition.
According to the judge, Abejide also approached the court prematurely without first exploring the party’s internal dispute resolution procedures.
On the controversy surrounding the appointment of Mark and Aregbesola, Justice Liman ruled that the transfer of authority by Nwosu was consistent with the party’s constitution.
He observed that the stakeholders’ meeting held on July 2, 2025, where Nwosu handed over leadership, validly preceded the National Executive Committee meeting of July 29, 2025, during which Mark and Aregbesola were formally ratified as National Chairman and National Secretary under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The court concluded that the process complied with both the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act 2026.
As part of the ruling, Justice Liman awarded N2 million in costs against Abejide in favour of each defendants.
The court also directed the Abejide’s Lawyer to pay an additional N10 million as costs in line with provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
Abejide had filed the suit, on February 15, seeking to invalidate the July 2, 2025 leadership handover within the ADC.
He had asked the court to restrain Mark and Aregbesola from acting as the party’s national leaders and sought an order preventing INEC from recognising them, arguing that their emergence breached both the party’s constitution and electoral laws.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
