Court affirms David Mark-led ADC leadership, dismisses Abejide’s suit

A Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) under former Senate President David Mark, dismissing a suit filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide challenging the party’s current leadership.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice Musa Liman held that the suit lacked merit and upheld the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its former National Chairman, Chief Ralph Nwosu, David Mark and the party’s National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola.

The court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter, describing it as an internal party affair that was not justiciable. Justice Liman further held that Abejide failed to establish that his legal rights had been violated by the emergence of the current leadership and noted that he did not exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before approaching the court.

On the substantive issues, the court held that the transfer of the party’s leadership from Nwosu to Mark did not contravene the ADC constitution. It also found that the stakeholders’ meeting held on July 2, 2025, validly preceded the National Executive Council meeting of July 29, 2025, during which Mark and Aregbesola emerged as the party’s national chairman and national secretary, respectively, under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Justice Liman declared that the emergence of the Mark-led leadership complied with the ADC constitution, the Electoral Act, 2026, and other applicable laws, affirming the legitimacy of the party’s current leadership.

The court consequently ordered Abejide to pay N2 million in costs to each of the defendants. It also imposed a N10 million cost against the lawmaker’s counsel in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.

Abejide had filed the suit seeking to nullify the leadership transition that saw Nwosu hand over the party’s leadership to Mark and Aregbesola, while also asking the court to restrain them from acting as national officers of the ADC and prevent INEC from recognising them. The court, however, dismissed all the reliefs sought.