The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of Senator David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), dismissing a suit filed by Rep. Leke Abejide challenging their emergence as the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice Musa Liman held that the dispute concerned the internal affairs of the party and was therefore non-justiciable. The court also ruled that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit and failed to exhaust the ADC’s internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court.
The judge further held that the transfer of the party’s leadership from former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu to Mark did not violate the ADC constitution. He upheld the validity of the July 2, 2025 stakeholders’ meeting and the subsequent National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of July 29, 2025, which produced Mark and Aregbesola as party leaders under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Justice Liman consequently dismissed all the reliefs sought by Abejide, awarded costs of ₦2 million to each of the defendants against the plaintiff, and imposed an additional ₦10 million cost on Abejide’s counsel in line with the Electoral Act.
Abejide had sought to nullify the leadership handover to Mark and Aregbesola and restrain INEC from recognising them, arguing that the process violated the Electoral Act and the party’s constitution. The court rejected the claims in their entirety.
Voice