High Court Ruling May Keep ADC Off Upcoming Election Ballot

The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in the appeals and cross-appeals related to the leadership crises in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and African Democratic Congress, ADC, after hearing all parties, with no date fixed for its rulings.

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This decision has varying implications for the feuding camps in both parties, particularly in the PDP, where earlier court decisions nullified its Ibadan convention that produced Kabiru Turaki as national chairman and upheld the suspension of key officials.

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The PDP national executive, backed by the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, will remain in control, pending the verdict, as it is recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

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In contrast, the ADC appears worse off, as none of its three factions, led by Senator David Mark, Nafiu Bala Gombe, and Ogga Temitope, is recognised by the electoral commission.

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All registered political parties have until May 10 to submit their membership registers to INEC, or they will not be eligible to sponsor candidates for the 2027 general polls, which means the ADC will not be on the ballot if the Supreme Court does not deliver its verdict within 18 days.

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The Turaki-led PDP faction expects justice from the judiciary, according to its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, who stated that the party remains hopeful that the apex court will deliver judgments that preserve multi-party democracy and halt the emergence of a one-party state.

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Ememobong added that the Supreme Court has, at several times in the history of Nigeria's non-linear democratic experience, remained the last hope of Nigeria and Nigerians, even in the face of immense pressure and unimaginable risk.

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The Court of Appeal had upheld earlier rulings of the Federal High Court, which nullified the PDP's convention held in Ibadan and sustained the suspension of several party officers, including Samuel Anyanwu and A.K. Ajibade, SAN.

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Dissatisfied with the rulings, the Wike-backed PDP approached the Supreme Court, asking it to declare that both the trial court and the appellate court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter, insisting it arose from the internal affairs of the party.

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Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the Mark-led faction, expressed optimism about their chances of victory, stating that they are hopeful the Supreme Court will deliver its ruling in record time and in their favour.

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The appeal, marked SC/CV/180/2026, was filed by Senator David Mark, who seeks to set aside a March 12 Court of Appeal judgment, which he said was against the interest of justice.

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Mark argued that the appellate court exceeded its jurisdiction by ordering maintenance of the status quo ante bellum in a suit filed by aggrieved party members led by Nafiu-Bala Gombe, and contended that the dispute involved a political party's domestic affairs, in which courts lacked jurisdiction to intervene.

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Mark's legal team, led by Mr. Jubril Okutepa, SAN, insisted that the dispute was a non-justiciable internal party matter, as previously held by the Supreme Court, while adopting their brief of argument.

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Although INEC did not file any process to either support or counter the appeal, all the other respondents, however, urged the apex court to dismiss it for want of merit, maintaining that the trial court was properly seized of the facts of the case that was still pending before it.

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INEC had removed Mark and Aregbesola from its portal and website as ADC National Chairman and Secretary, respectively, on April 1, citing the Court of Appeal's judgment, and stated that it would not recognise any of the warring factions until the legal dispute was determined.

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Despite INEC's action, which the Mark-led faction has asked the Supreme Court to nullify, the ADC vowed to proceed with its scheduled national convention, while Justice Nwite of the Federal High Court adjourned sine die the hearing of the substantive case that Gombe filed to sack the Senator Mark-led leadership of the ADC.