By Deborah Nnamdi
The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) under former Senate President David Mark, dismissing a suit filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide challenging the party’s leadership structure.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice Musa Liman held that the suit lacked merit and was not justiciable, ruling that it concerned the internal affairs of a political party, which are generally beyond the jurisdiction of the courts except where there is a clear violation of the law or a member’s legal rights.
The court upheld the preliminary objections filed by the ADC, its former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, the incumbent National Chairman, David Mark, and the party’s National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola.
Justice Liman ruled that Abejide failed to establish that any of his legal rights had been infringed by the emergence of the current leadership. The judge also held that the lawmaker did not exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court.
On the substantive issues, the court found that the transition of leadership from Nwosu to Mark complied with both the ADC Constitution and the Electoral Act. It held that the stakeholders’ meeting of July 2, 2025, which preceded the party’s National Executive Committee meeting of July 29, 2025, formed part of the legitimate process that produced Mark as National Chairman and Aregbesola as National Secretary.
Justice Liman further noted that the NEC meeting was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission, lending credibility to the leadership transition, and declared that the appointments of Mark and Aregbesola were valid under the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.
The court also ordered Abejide to pay litigation costs of N2 million each to all the defendants and awarded an additional N10 million against his counsel in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Abejide had instituted the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, on February 15, seeking to nullify the transfer of the party’s leadership from Nwosu to Mark and Aregbesola. He argued that the July 2, 2025, handover at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja violated the Electoral Act and sought orders restraining Mark and Aregbesola from acting in their respective offices, as well as preventing INEC from recognising them as the party’s national leaders.
However, the court dismissed all the claims, affirming the legitimacy of the current leadership of the African Democratic Congress.
