The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by former Senate President David Mark, dealing a significant blow to his leadership claim in the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, a three-member panel led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam not only threw out the appeal but also awarded a N2 million cost against Mark, describing the legal action as unmeritorious.
Mark had approached the appellate court to challenge a September 4, 2025, ruling by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja. The former Senate President, who currently serves as the ADC National Chairman, had claimed that the trial judge lacked jurisdiction to conduct further hearings on an ex parte application filed by party chieftain Nafiu Bala Gombe.
However, the Appeal Court panel upheld objections raised by Gombe’s legal team, led by Luka Musa Haruna (SAN), that the appeal was incompetent and based on issues not reflected in the trial court’s original ruling.
In the lead judgment, Justice Onyemenam held that Mark erroneously relied on an enrolled order drawn by the court registrar rather than the ruling actually read in open court by the judge. She emphasised that the correct record of any court ruling is the one read by the judge, not the summary represented by an enrolled order.
The court further found that Mark’s appeal, being interlocutory in nature, was filed without first obtaining the requisite leave of either the trial court or the Court of Appeal.
“A careful examination of the ruling showed that the trial court did not determine the ex parte application, but merely exercised its discretion to direct that the adverse party be put on notice to show cause why the relief sought should not be granted,” Justice Onyemenam ruled.
She added that the order directing adverse parties to be put on notice could not, “by any stretch of imagination, be construed as a final determination of the ex parte application.”
The dispute stems from a substantive suit filed by Gombe, a former Deputy National Chairman of ADC, who is challenging the emergence of Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as National Chairman and National Secretary of the party respectively.
Gombe is praying the court to void the Mark-led leadership and is seeking, among other reliefs, to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising them as ADC leaders.
Beyond dismissing the appeal, the appellate court ordered an accelerated hearing of the substantive suit still pending before the Federal High Court. It also issued an order for all parties to maintain the status quo to preserve the subject matter of the dispute.
Justices Mohammed Mustapha and Okon Abang, who were also on the panel, agreed with the lead judgment.
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