A FEDERAL High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) under former Senate President David Mark, dismissing a suit filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide challenging the party’s current leadership.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, July 2, one of the court’s judges, Musa Liman, held that Abejide’s suit lacked merit. He upheld the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu, David Mark and the party’s National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola.
The judge ruled that the dispute bordered on the internal affairs of a political party, making it non-justiciable and outside the court’s jurisdiction.
Liman further held that Abejide failed to establish that his legal rights had been violated by the emergence of the Mark-led leadership, adding that the lawmaker did not exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before approaching the court.
The court also resolved all three substantive issues in the suit in favour of the defendants.
On the legality of the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola as the party’s national chairman and national secretary respectively, the judge held that their appointment complied with the ADC constitution and relevant electoral laws.
Liman ruled that the July 2, 2025, meeting, during which former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu handed over the party’s leadership to Mark, was a stakeholders’ meeting that preceded the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held on July 29, 2025.
According to the court, the NEC meeting, monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), validly produced Mark and Aregbesola as the party’s leaders.
The judge consequently declared that their emergence complied with the party’s constitution, the Electoral Act 2026 and other applicable laws.
As part of the judgment, the court ordered Abejide to pay N2 million in costs to each of the defendants. Liman also awarded N10 million in costs against Abejide’s counsel in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
Abejide had filed the suit seeking to invalidate the transfer of the party’s leadership from Nwosu to Mark and Aregbesola.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, the lawmaker asked the court to declare the July 2, 2025, handover at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja illegal, null and void.
He also sought orders restraining Mark and Aregbesola from presenting themselves as the party’s leaders and preventing INEC from recognising them, arguing that their emergence did not comply with the requirements of the Electoral Act.
Background
Although the case is different from the suit filed by the former Deputy National Chairman of the ADC, Nafiu Gombe, Thursday’s judgment marks a new development in the party’s prolonged leadership crisis ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The crisis began after the party’s former National Chairman, Nwosu, handed over the leadership of the ADC to Mark and Aregbesola during a stakeholders’ meeting held on July 2, 2025, at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.
The stakeholders’ meeting was later followed by the party’s NEC meeting on July 29, 2025, where Mark and Aregbesola formally emerged as the party’s national chairman and national secretary in a process the party said was monitored by INEC.
The transition, however, sparked opposition from another faction within the party, leading to multiple lawsuits over who should legitimately control the ADC ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In April, the Supreme Court set aside an earlier Court of Appeal order directing parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum and returned the substantive leadership dispute to the Federal High Court for hearing.
The apex court described the Appeal Court’s order as “unnecessary, improper and unwarranted” and held that the matter should proceed before the trial court for determination.
Before the Supreme Court’s intervention, INEC had removed Mark and Aregbesola’s names from its official portal after relying on the Appeal Court’s directive, effectively leaving the party without a recognised national leadership at a critical period ahead of preparations for the 2027 elections.
The decision sparked protests by members of the Mark-led faction, who accused INEC of interfering in the party’s internal affairs. The faction also proceeded with its planned congresses and national convention despite the commission’s refusal to recognise its leadership.
Following the Supreme Court’s judgment on April 30, INEC reinstated Mark as the ADC National Chairman and Aregbesola as National Secretary on its website, restoring the leadership pending the outcome of the substantive suit at the Federal High Court.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M