Court Upholds David Mark, Aregbesola’s ADC Leadership

The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of former Senate President David Mark and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola as the National Chairman and National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), dismissing a suit challenging their emergence.

Justice Musa Liman, in a judgment delivered on Thursday, held that the case filed by a member of the House of Representatives, Leke Abejide, lacked merit and declined jurisdiction, ruling that the dispute bordered on the internal affairs of a political party and was therefore non-justiciable.

The court upheld the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its former National Chairman, Chief Ralph Nwosu, Mark and Aregbesola, effectively striking out Abejide’s challenge to the party’s leadership.

Justice Liman also ruled that the lawmaker lacked the legal standing to institute the suit, having failed to establish that his rights had been infringed by the emergence of the new leadership.

According to the court, Abejide equally failed to exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court.

Beyond the preliminary issues, the judge resolved all the substantive questions in the suit in favour of the defendants.

The court held that the transition of leadership from Nwosu to Mark did not breach the ADC constitution or any extant law governing political parties.

Justice Liman further ruled that the stakeholders’ meeting held on July 2, 2025, which Abejide sought to invalidate, was a legitimate precursor to the party’s National Executive Committee meeting of July 29, 2025.

He noted that the NEC meeting, monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), validly produced Mark and Aregbesola as the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary.

The judge consequently declared that their emergence complied with the provisions of the ADC constitution, the Electoral Act, 2026, and other relevant laws regulating the party.

The court also imposed financial penalties on the plaintiff and his counsel over the unsuccessful suit.

Justice Liman ordered Abejide to pay N2 million in costs to each of the defendants, while his lawyer was fined N10 million in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.

Abejide had approached the court seeking to nullify the transfer of the party’s leadership from Nwosu to Mark and Aregbesola during a stakeholders’ meeting held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on July 2, 2025.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, filed on February 15, 2026, the lawmaker had argued that the handover was unlawful and asked the court to restrain Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as leaders of the party.

He also sought an order stopping the Independent National Electoral Commission from recognising the duo as the ADC’s National Chairman and National Secretary.

The judgment, however, clears the legal hurdle challenging the current leadership of the opposition party and reinforces the validity of the process that brought Mark and Aregbesola into office.