S’Court sets April 22 for hearing of ADC leadership dispute appeal

The Supreme Court has scheduled April 22 to hear an appeal filed by a faction of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) led by former Senate President, David Mark, over the party’s leadership dispute.

At proceedings on Tuesday, a five-member panel of the apex court, headed by Justice Mohammed Garba, directed the Mark-led faction to file and serve all necessary legal processes on respondents within 24 hours.

The court further ordered the respondents to file their responses within three days of receiving the processes, while the appellants were given one day to reply, with all briefs to be exchanged before April 20.

Counsel to the Mark-led faction, Jubril Okutepa, withdrew an earlier motion seeking to stay the execution of a Court of Appeal judgment that directed parties to maintain the status quo, noting that the expedited hearing of the appeal made the motion unnecessary.

Following the withdrawal, the Supreme Court struck out the motion and indicated its readiness to hear the substantive matter promptly once all processes are filed.

The dispute originated from a March 12 ruling of the Court of Appeal, which dismissed Mark’s challenge against an earlier decision of the Federal High Court.

The case began after Nafiu Bala, a former deputy national chairman of the party, filed a suit seeking to restrain the Mark-led executives from acting as national officers of the ADC, insisting he remained in office and was entitled to lead the party. He also sought an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise him as acting national chairman and to stop the party from conducting meetings or conventions pending the resolution of the case.

Meanwhile, INEC had announced on April 1 that it would not recognise either faction of the ADC following the appellate court ruling, prompting the Mark-led group to approach the Supreme Court for redress.