Court Moves Ruling in Suit to Dismiss Mark, Aregbesola as ADC Leaders

By George OPARA

Presiding Justice Musa Suleiman Liman has postponed judgment in a fresh suit seeking to restrain Senator David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola from parading themselves as African Democratic Congress, ADC, Chairman and Secretary, to April 14 by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

In the suit filed by a House of Representatives member from Kogi State, Hon. Leke Abejide was slated for today but Justice Musa Suleiman Liman pushed it forward by 24 hours due to other pressing official engagement

A Registrar of the Court announced the adjournment of the judgment delivery on Monday to newsmen and politicians who had stormed the court as early as 8am.

Most of the politicians, mainly from the camps of the lawmaker and David Mark-led leadership, left the court room one after the other when the reality down on them.

Spear News recall that the Judge had last Friday fixed April 13 for the verdict after Abejide’s counsel, Ibrahim Idris, SAN, and lawyers to the defence adopted their processes and presented their arguments for and against the suit.

Abejide, a member of the House of Representatives on the platform of the ADC, had instituted the suit through his lawyer.

In the originating summons, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025 filed on February 15, 2026, the lawmaker sued ADC, Ralph Nwosu, Mark, Aregbesola and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 1st to 5th defendants respectively.

Nwosu was the former national chairman of ADC who stepped down for Mark, the former Senate President to take over the leadership of the party.

Abejide, among the eight reliefs, sought an order nullifying Nwosu’s handover or transfer of ADC’s leadership to Mark and Aregbesola as interim national Chairman and interim national Secretary respectively on July 2, 2025, at Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre, Abuja for being illegal, unlawful, null and void.

He sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as leaders of the party “as thelr purported appointment, selection or election was unlawful, illegal, null and void.”

He also sought perpetual injunction, restraining INEC from recognising Mark and Aregbesola as ADC’s interim national chairman and interim national secretary “as their appointment. selection or election did not meet the requirements of Section 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022,” among other prayers.

But ADC, represented by Shaibu Aruwa, SAN; Nwosu, represented by P. I. Oyewole; Rilwan Okpanachi who appeared for Mark; Aregbesola’s lawyer, I. R. Abdullahi, and counsel who appeared for INEC, Anthony Onyeri, all prayed the court to dismiss the suit for lacking in merit.

ADC, Nwosu, Mark and Aregbesola, in their arguments, submitted that Abejide lacked the legal right to institute the suit.

In their separate preliminary objections, they argued that the subject matter of the suit borders on the internal affairs of a political party which is non-justiciable.

They added that the court lacked the jurisdiction to delve into such matters.

The defendants also stated that contrary to Abejide’s submission, the Mark-led leadership was elected on July 29, 2025, at the National Executive Committee meeting of the party, and not July 2, 2025.

They stated that Abejide had not demonstrated any reasonable cause why the suit should be filed.

The defendants, who urged the court to dismiss the suit with substantial cost in line with Section 83(5) of the Electiral Act, 2026, argued that the matter is purely academic.