Breaking: Court Again Affirms David Mark’s ADC Leadership, Dismisses Abejide Suit With Penalties
The Federal High Court in Abuja has again upheld the leadership of former Senate President David Mark as national chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, dismissing a suit that sought to nullify his emergence.
Delivering judgement, on Thursday, Justice Musa Liman ruled that the suit filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide lacked merit.
The court upheld preliminary objections raised by the ADC, former national chairman Ralph Nwosu, Mark, and national secretary Rauf Aregbesola.
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The ruling marks another legal victory affirming Mark’s control of the party’s leadership.
Justice Liman held that the court lacked jurisdiction to interfere in the internal affairs of the party, describing the dispute as non-justiciable.
The judge also found that Abejide had no legal standing to file the suit because he failed to show his rights were violated by the current leadership.
The court noted that Abejide did not exhaust the ADC’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before heading to court.
Resolving all issues in favour of the respondents, Justice Liman held that the process that produced Mark and Aregbesola complied with the ADC constitution and relevant electoral laws.
The court said the leadership transfer from Nwosu to Mark did not breach the party’s constitution.
It accepted that the July 2, 2025 meeting at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja was a stakeholders’ meeting that preceded the party’s National Executive Council meeting of July 29, 2025. Mark and Aregbesola formally emerged at the NEC meeting, which was monitored by INEC.
The court declared their emergence as national chairman and national secretary valid and consistent with the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act, 2026.
In dismissing the suit, the court ordered Abejide to pay N2 million in cost to each respondent. It also imposed a N10 million penalty on Abejide’s counsel under the Electoral Act, 2026.
Abejide had asked the court to nullify Nwosu’s handover of the party’s leadership to Mark and Aregbesola during the July 2, 2025 meeting, arguing the process was unlawful.
(DEMOCRACY NEWSLINE NEWSPAPER, JULY 2ND 2026)
