The Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected a disputed resignation letter allegedly written by former African Democratic Congress (ADC) Deputy National Chairman Nafiu Bala, ruling that the document was not authentic.
Justice Peter Lifu, in a judgment delivered on Nov. 5, held that the letter, which the faction led by former Senate President David Mark relied on to establish Bala’s resignation, could not be accepted as genuine evidence.
The judge said he compared the signature on the disputed letter, tendered as Exhibit ADC-1, with those on Bala’s sworn statements and found material differences.
He held that the certification of a document does not automatically establish the authenticity of a disputed signature, stressing that courts must examine the evidence before reaching a conclusion.
“The fact that a document is certified, however, does not, by that fact alone, settle a genuine dispute as to whether the person named in it, actually signed it,” Lifu said.
He added that certification only establishes that a copy corresponds with a document held by the certifying authority, but does not necessarily prove that the disputed signature is genuine.
The judge consequently ruled that he was not satisfied that the letter represented Bala’s genuine act and rejected it as proof that he voluntarily resigned from his position as deputy national chairman.
“I therefore reject it as reliable proof that the plaintiff voluntarily resigned from his position as Deputy National Chairman of the 1st defendant (ADC),” he held.
The dispute followed Bala’s challenge to the leadership arrangement that produced Mark as national chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as national secretary.
The Mark-led faction had maintained that Bala resigned on May 17, 2025, and that the resignation was subsequently communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, Bala repeatedly denied authoring the letter, insisting that both the document and the signature on it were forged.
In April 2026, he publicly disowned the resignation letter, saying: “I wish to state that this paper did not come from me, and that is not my signature on it. The signature you see there was forged.”
Justice Lifu also ruled that the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola at the party’s 99th National Executive Committee meeting on July 27, 2025, had not been shown to comply with the requirement for democratic election under Section 82(3) of the Electoral Act 2022.
He said the party’s reliance on the powers of its National Executive Committee and INEC’s subsequent recognition of the leadership arrangement could not replace compliance with the law.
The judgment is the latest development in the ADC leadership crisis, which has also affected the party’s preparations for the 2027 general election and the nomination of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate.
The Mark-led faction has rejected the court’s judgment and indicated plans to appeal the decision, leaving the party’s leadership and electoral preparations under further legal uncertainty.
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