The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned judgment in a suit seeking the removal of Senator David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as Chairman and Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), respectively, to Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
The judgment in the suit, filed by a member of the House of Representatives from Kogi State, Hon. Leke Abejide, was initially scheduled for Monday, April 13. However, the trial judge, Justice Musa Liman, postponed it by 24 hours due to other pressing official engagements.
A court registrar announced the adjournment on Monday to journalists and politicians who had gathered early for the ruling.
Following the announcement, most of the politicians—mainly from the camps of the lawmaker and the David Mark-led leadership—left the courtroom.
It will be recalled that the judge had last Friday fixed April 13 for the delivery of judgment after Abejide’s counsel, Ibrahim Idris (SAN), and counsel to the defence adopted their written addresses for and against the suit.
Abejide, a member of the House of Representatives on the platform of the ADC, filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025 through his lawyer on February 15, listing the ADC, Ralph Nwosu, David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the 1st to 5th defendants, respectively.
Nwosu, the former National Chairman of the ADC, had stepped down for Mark, the former Senate President, to assume the leadership of the party.
Among the eight reliefs sought, Abejide is asking the court to nullify Nwosu’s handover of the ADC leadership to Mark and Aregbesola as interim National Chairman and interim National Secretary, respectively, on July 2, 2025, at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre in Abuja, on the grounds that it was illegal, unlawful, null, and void.
He is also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as leaders of the party, arguing that their purported appointment, selection, or election was unlawful, illegal, null, and void.
Additionally, he is asking for a perpetual injunction restraining INEC from recognising Mark and Aregbesola as the party’s interim National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively, on the basis that their emergence did not comply with the requirements of Section 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022, among other reliefs.
However, the ADC, represented by Shaibu Aruwa (SAN); Nwosu, represented by P. I. Oyewole; Rilwan Okpanachi, who appeared for Mark; Aregbesola’s counsel, I. R. Abdullahi; and counsel for INEC, Anthony Onyeri, all urged the court to dismiss the suit for lacking merit.
The ADC, Nwosu, Mark, and Aregbesola, in their arguments, contended that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit.
In their separate preliminary objections, they argued that the subject matter concerns the internal affairs of a political party, which is non-justiciable, and that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain such matters.
They further stated that, contrary to Abejide’s claim, the Mark-led leadership was elected on July 29, 2025, at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, and not on July 2, 2025.
The defendants also argued that Abejide failed to disclose any reasonable cause of action and urged the court to dismiss the suit with substantial costs in line with Section 83(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, describing the matter as academic.
