A FEDERAL High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday affirmed the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) headed by former Senate President David Mark, dismissing a suit filed by a member of the House of Representatives, Leke Abejide, for lacking merit.
News Point Nigeria reports that the court also upheld the emergence of Mark as the party’s National Chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as its National Secretary, ruling that their appointments complied with the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act, 2026.
Delivering judgment, Justice Musa Liman sustained the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, Mark and Aregbesola.
The judge held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter because it concerned the internal affairs of a political party, which he described as non-justiciable.
Justice Liman further ruled that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit, having failed to demonstrate how his rights were violated by the emergence of the current ADC leadership.
He also held that the lawmaker failed to exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court.
The court equally resolved all the issues raised in the substantive suit in favour of the defendants.
On the legality of the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola, Justice Liman held that the transfer of leadership by Ralph Nwosu did not contravene the ADC constitution.
According to the court, the July 2, 2025 stakeholders’ meeting, where Nwosu handed over the party’s leadership, preceded the National Executive Committee meeting of July 29, 2025, which formally produced Mark and Aregbesola as the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively, under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Justice Liman declared that the emergence of the duo complied with both the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act, 2026.
The court subsequently awarded costs of N2 million each in favour of the defendants against Abejide.
It also ordered Abejide’s counsel to pay an additional N10 million as costs pursuant to the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.
Abejide had, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025 and filed on February 15, sued the ADC, Ralph Nwosu, David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking to nullify the July 2, 2025 handover of the party’s leadership.
Among the reliefs sought, the lawmaker asked the court to restrain Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary and to stop INEC from recognising them as ADC leaders.
He argued that their emergence did not comply with the provisions of the party’s constitution and the relevant sections of the Electoral Act.
However, the court dismissed the suit in its entirety, affirming the legality of the current ADC leadership and bringing the challenge against Mark and Aregbesola to an end.