Shocking delay in ruling on ADC leadership dispute – The full story

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The Federal High Court in Abuja has postponed the judgment in a case seeking to remove Senator David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola from their positions as Chairman and Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), respectively, until April 14.

The ruling, which was initially scheduled for today, was delayed by 24 hours due to other official engagements, according to Justice Musa Suleiman Liman.

The announcement of the adjournment was made on Monday by a Registrar of the Court to newsmen and the crowd of politicians who had arrived as early as 8 am.

Many of the politicians, particularly from the camps of the lawmaker and the David Mark-led leadership, gradually left the courtroom once they learned about the delay.

Last Friday, the judge had set April 13 for the verdict, after Abejide’s counsel, Ibrahim Idris, SAN, and the defence lawyers presented their arguments on the suit.

The suit was filed by Hon. Leke Abejide, a member of the House of Representatives from Kogi State, through his lawyer.

In the originating summons, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025 and filed on February 15, 2026, the lawmaker sued ADC, Ralph Nwosu, Mark, Aregbesola, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants.

Nwosu, the former national chairman of ADC, had stepped down to allow Mark, the former Senate President, to take over the leadership of the party.

Abejide, among the eight reliefs sought, requested an order nullifying Nwosu’s handover of ADC’s leadership to Mark and Aregbesola as interim national Chairman and interim national Secretary on July 2, 2025, at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre, Abuja, arguing that it was illegal.

He also asked the court to issue a perpetual injunction preventing Mark and Aregbesola from continuing to act as leaders of the party, stating that their appointments were unlawful.

In addition, Abejide sought an injunction against INEC recognizing Mark and Aregbesola as ADC’s interim leaders, claiming that their appointments did not meet the legal requirements under Section 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022.

However, the ADC, represented by Shaibu Aruwa, SAN; Nwosu, represented by P.I. Oyewole; Rilwan Okpanachi for Mark; I.R. Abdullahi for Aregbesola; and Anthony Onyeri for INEC, all urged the court to dismiss the suit, citing a lack of merit.

The defendants argued that Abejide lacked the legal standing to file the suit and claimed that the matter concerned the internal affairs of the political party, which they argued was non-justiciable. They also stated that the court did not have jurisdiction to handle such matters.

The defendants further argued that, contrary to Abejide’s claims, the Mark-led leadership was elected on July 29, 2025, during a National Executive Committee meeting, and not July 2, 2025.

They also contended that Abejide had not shown reasonable cause for filing the suit and urged the court to dismiss it with substantial costs, in line with Section 83(5) of the Electoral Act, 2026, arguing that the case was academic.

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