ADC crisis: Court adjourns judgment in Abejide’s suit against Mark, Aregbesola

n n

Federal High Court

n

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday adjourned the scheduled judgment in a suit filed by Rep Leke Abejide until April 14.

n

Abejide is seeking an order restraining Sen. David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola from parading themselves as the African Democratic Congress’s (ADC) national chairman and national secretary, respectively.

n

The suit fixed for judgment before Justice Musa Liman today could not be delivered since the judge was said to be in another official engagement.

n

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Liman had, on Friday, fixed today for the judgment.

n

The judge fixed the date after Abejide’s counsel, Ibrahim Idris, SAN, and lawyers to the defence adopted their processes and presented their arguments for and against the suit.

n

Abejide, a member of the House of Representatives on the platform of ADC, had instituted the suit.

n

In the originating summons, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025 and filed on Feb. 15, 2026, by Idris, the lawmaker sued ADC, Ralph Nwosu, Mark, Aregbesola and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the 1st to 5th defendants, respectively.

n

NAN reports that Nwosu was the former national chairman of ADC who stepped down for Mark, the ex-Senate president.

n

Abejide, among the eight reliefs, sought an order nullifying Nwosu’s handover or transfer of ADC’s leadership to Mark and Aregbesola as interim national chairman and interim national secretary, respectively, on July 2, 2025, at Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre, Abuja, for being illegal, unlawful, null and void.

n

He sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as leaders of the party “as their purported appointment, selection or election was unlawful, illegal, null and void.”

n

He also sought a perpetual injunction restraining INEC from recognising Mark and Aregbesola as ADC’s interim national chairman and interim national secretary “as their appointment, selection or election did not meet the requirements of Section 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022″, among other prayers.

n

The ADC, represented by Shaibu Aruwa, SAN; Nwosu, represented by P. I. Oyewole; Rilwan Okpanachi, who appeared for Mark; Aregbesola’s lawyer, I. R. Abdullahi; and counsel who appeared for INEC, Anthony Onyeri, all prayed the court to dismiss the suit for lacking merit.

n

ADC, Nwosu, Mark and Aregbesola, in their arguments, submitted that Abejide lacked the legal right to institute the suit.

n

In their separate preliminary objections, they argued that the subject matter of the suit bordered on the internal affairs of a political party which are non-justiciable.

n

They added that the court lacked the jurisdiction to delve into such matters.

n

The defendants also stated that contrary to Abejide’s submission, the Mark-led leadership was elected on July 29, 2025, at the National Executive Committee meeting of the party and not July 2, 2025.

n

They stated that Abejide had not demonstrated any reasonable cause why the suit should be filed.

n

The defendants, who urged the court to dismiss the suit with substantial cost in line with Section 83(5) of the Electoral Act, 2026, argued that the matter is academic.

n

Also in his argument, Onyeri, who appeared for INEC, prayed the court to dismiss the suit.

n

He said the commission, in its argument, filed an eight-paragraph counteraffidavit with an exhibit marked ‘Exhibit INEC-1’. (NAN)

n n