A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday declared the David Mark-led leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) unlawful and set aside the party’s nomination of Atiku Abubakar as its 2027 presidential candidate.
Justice Peter Lifu gave the ruling in a suit filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former national deputy chairman (north-east) of the party.
The judge held that the caretaker committee headed by Mark had no legal basis to run the party and voided every decision it took, including the process that produced Atiku as the ADC flag bearer.
Gombe had asked the court to review how Mark and other caretaker members took over the party after the resignation of its national chairman, Ralph Nwosu.
He argued that the party’s constitution made him the rightful person to take charge once Nwosu stepped down.
He also asked the court to stop Mark and Rauf Aregbesola from presenting themselves as national chairman and national secretary, saying their emergence breached both the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act.
The suit, numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, named the ADC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mark, Aregbesola and Nwosu as defendants. Justice Lifu upheld the plaintiff’s claims and granted the reliefs he sought.
In a swift reaction, the ADC dismissed the ruling and accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of trying to weaken the opposition.
In a statement, ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the timing, barely 24 hours after the party’s large presidential campaign rally in Sokoto, suggested the judgment had been prepared in advance and rushed out because of the rally.
The party said the verdict could affect thousands of its candidates contesting at local, state and federal levels. It described the decision as legally indefensible and promised to challenge it through all available judicial channels.
The ADC based its objection on a 2 July 2026 judgment by Justice Musa Liman of the same court in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025. That judgment, it said, affirmed the legitimacy of the Mark-led National Working Committee and directed INEC to recognise it.
The party argued that a court of equal jurisdiction cannot nullify the subsisting judgment of another and said it would wait for the Certified True Copy of the latest ruling to study its terms and scope.
The ADC warned the APC against what it called a dangerous attempt to eliminate political competition through the courts and urged the judiciary not to be used to impose a dictatorship.
It called on its members nationwide to stay calm and law abiding while it pursues legal remedies.
