The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) under former Senate President David Mark, dismissing a suit challenging his emergence as the party’s national chairman.
In a judgement delivered on Thursday, Justice Musa Liman ruled that the suit filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide lacked merit and upheld the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its former national chairman Ralph Nwosu, Mark and former Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who serves as the party’s national secretary.
The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to interfere in the internal affairs of the political party, describing the dispute as non-justiciable. Justice Liman further ruled that Abejide had no legal standing to institute the action because he failed to demonstrate that his rights had been violated by the emergence of the current leadership.
The judge also found that the lawmaker did not exhaust the ADC’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before approaching the court.
Justice Liman resolved all the issues raised in the substantive suit in favour of the respondents, holding that the process that produced Mark and Aregbesola complied with the party’s constitution and relevant electoral laws.
The court held that the transfer of leadership from Nwosu to Mark did not violate the ADC constitution. It further agreed that the July 2, 2025 meeting held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja was a stakeholders’ meeting that preceded the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of July 29, 2025, where Mark and Aregbesola formally emerged as the party’s leaders in a process monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Justice Liman consequently declared that the emergence of Mark as national chairman and Aregbesola as national secretary of the ADC was valid and consistent with the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act, 2026.
In addition to dismissing the suit, the court ordered Abejide to pay N2 million in cost to each of the respondents. It also imposed a N10 million penalty on the lawmaker’s counsel in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.
LEADERSHIP reports Abejide had filed the suit seeking to nullify Nwosu’s handover of the party’s leadership to Mark and Aregbesola during the July 2, 2025 meeting, arguing that the process was unlawful.
Among the reliefs sought, the lawmaker had asked the court to declare the appointments of Mark and Aregbesola null and void, restrain them from presenting themselves as the ADC leaders, and prevent INEC from recognising them in those capacities.
LEADERSHIP reports that Abejide had a few weeks ago defected from ADC to the
