The leadership tussle within the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is set for judicial resolution, as the Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed April 13 to rule on a suit seeking to overturn the emergence of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as key party leaders.
The suit, filed by Representative Leke Abejide, challenges the legality of the process that led to Mark and Aregbesola being appointed as National Chairman and National Secretary, and seeks to prevent them from continuing to act in those capacities.
Justice Musa Liman adjourned the matter for judgment after counsel to Abejide, Ibrahim Idris, SAN, and defence lawyers adopted their processes and presented arguments for and against the suit.
Abejide, a member of the House of Representatives elected on the platform of the ADC, instituted the suit. In the originating summons, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025 and filed on February 15, 2026, by Idris, SAN, the lawmaker listed the ADC, Ralph Nwosu, David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as first to fifth defendants, respectively.
Nwosu, the former National Chairman of the ADC, had stepped down for Mark, a former Senate President.
Among the eight reliefs sought, Abejide is asking the court to nullify the handover of the party’s leadership by Nwosu to Mark and Aregbesola as Interim National Chairman and Interim National Secretary, respectively. He contends that the transfer, which allegedly took place on July 2, 2025, at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, was illegal, unlawful, null, and void.
He further seeks an order of perpetual injunction restraining Mark and Aregbesola from presenting themselves as leaders of the party because their purported appointment, selection, or election was unlawful and invalid.
Additionally, Abejide is requesting a perpetual injunction restraining INEC from recognising Mark and Aregbesola in those capacities, arguing that their appointment did not comply with the requirements of Section 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Counsel to the defendants—including Shaibu Aruwa, SAN, for the ADC; P. I. Oyewole for Nwosu; Rilwan Okpanachi for Mark; I. R. Abdullahi for Aregbesola; and Anthony Onyeri for INEC—urged the court to dismiss the suit for lacking merit.
In their submissions, the ADC, Nwosu, Mark, and Aregbesola argued that Abejide lacks the legal standing to institute the suit. Through separate preliminary objections, they maintained that the subject matter concerns the internal affairs of a political party and is therefore non-justiciable. They further contended that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The defendants also asserted that, contrary to Abejide’s claims, the Mark-led leadership emerged from a National Executive Committee meeting held on July 29, 2025, rather than on July 2, 2025.
They argued that Abejide failed to establish any reasonable cause of action and urged the court to dismiss the suit with substantial costs pursuant to Section 83(5) of the Electoral Act, 2026, describing the matter as academic.
Counsel to INEC, Anthony Onyeri, also prayed the court to dismiss the suit. He informed the court that the commission filed an eight-paragraph counter-affidavit, accompanied by an exhibit marked “Exhibit INEC-1.”
