Federal Court Affirms David Mark’s ADC Leadership 

The Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Musa Liman, has officially dismissed the lawsuit challenging the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The ruling firmly secures the positions of former Senate President David Mark as National Chairman and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary.  

Here are the critical details of the court’s judgment and the political context surrounding the decision:

The Legal Grounds for Dismissal

Justice Liman dismissed the suit filed by Leke Abejide, a House of Representatives member representing Yagba Federal Constituency (Kogi State), citing three fundamental legal flaws:

 Internal Party Affairs: The court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction because the leadership dispute is strictly an internal affair of a political party, making the matter non-justiciable.  

 Lack of Standing: The judge held that Abejide failed to prove that his individual legal rights were violated by the transition of leadership.  

 Failure to Utilize Internal Channels: The court noted that the lawmaker failed to exhaust the ADC’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before rushing to the federal court.  

Validation of the Transition Process

The lawsuit (Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025) had specifically aimed to invalidate the events of July 2025, where former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu handed over leadership.  

Justice Liman cleared the transition, ruling that the initial July 2, 2025 meeting was a legitimate stakeholders’ assembly that paved the way for the formal National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on July 29, 2025. Because that final NEC meeting was fully monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the court declared the appointments of Mark and Aregbesola fully compliant with the ADC Constitution and the Electoral Act.  

Steep Financial Penalties

To deter what it viewed as an abuse of the court process, the court imposed heavy financial penalties on the challengers:  

 Abejide was ordered to pay ₦2 million in costs to each of the primary defendants (including the ADC, Ralph Nwosu, David Mark, and Rauf Aregbesola).  

 In a rare move aligned with strict provisions in the Electoral Act, the court hit Abejide’s lead counsel with an additional ₦10 million penalty.  

The Broader Political Context & 2027 Alignment

This ruling resolves a long-standing leadership crisis that previously forced INEC to temporarily strip Mark and Aregbesola’s names from its official portal following conflicting appellate orders, before a Supreme Court intervention stabilized the situation.  

The verdict carries massive weight for the national political landscape. The David Mark-led ADC has increasingly become a preferred platform for a coalescing coalition of major opposition politicians looking to challenge the ruling party. Following the judgment, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar publicly applauded the court’s stance, hailing it as a victory for constitutional democracy while reaffirming his own intentions to remain a central figure in the build-up to the 2027 presidential race.