A Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of former Senate President David Mark as National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), dismissing a suit filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide for lacking merit.
Justice Musa Liman held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter because it bordered on the internal affairs of the party, making the suit non-justiciable.
The judge also ruled that Abejide failed to establish that his rights had been violated and did not exhaust the ADC's internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court.
Justice Liman upheld the preliminary objections filed by the ADC, its former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu, David Mark and the party's National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola.
The court further held that the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola complied with the ADC constitution, the Electoral Act 2026 and other relevant laws.
According to the judgment, the July 2, 2025 stakeholders' meeting, where Nwosu handed over leadership to Mark, did not violate the party's constitution.
The court also recognised the subsequent National Executive Council meeting of July 29, 2025, which produced the current leadership and was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Justice Liman consequently dismissed all the reliefs sought by Abejide, who had asked the court to nullify the appointments of Mark and Aregbesola and restrain INEC from recognising them as the party's leaders.
The court awarded costs of N2 million each in favour of all the defendants, payable by Abejide. It also ordered the lawmaker's lawyer to pay an additional N10 million penalty in line with the Electoral Act 2026.
Abejide had filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, challenging the legality of the leadership changes within the ADC following Nwosu's handover of the party's leadership to Mark.
Comments
Add a comment