UPDATED: Court nullifies Atiku’s candidacy, sacks all ADC candidates, party leadership - Premium Times Nigeria

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday sacked the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) under former Senate President David Mark and voided the party’s presidential ticket held by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Judge Peter Lifu said the “Mark-led Caretaker Committee, which conducted the party’s presidential primary that produced Atiku Abubakar as its flag bearer,” is illegal.

The judge sacked the entire national officers of the party, including National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola, alongside all the candidates the party presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2027 elections.

If upheld by higher courts on appeal, the judgement means the ADC, a major challenger to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is barred from fielding candidates in the upcoming general elections.

The former ADC Deputy National Chairman, North-East, Nafiu Bala Gombe, instituted the suit challenging the process through which Mr Mark and other members assumed the party’s leadership.

Mr Gombe sued the ADC, INEC, Messrs Mark, Aregbesola and a former national chairman of the party, Ralph Nwosu.

He argued that following the resignation of Mr Nwosu as the national chairman of ADC, he was constitutionally entitled to take over the party’s leadership.

He consequently asked the court to invalidate all actions taken by the Mr Mark-led leadership.

He also urged the court to bar Mr Mark, Mr Aregbesola who is a former governor of Osun State, and other members of their caretaker committee, from parading themselves as valid leaders of the party.

The plaintiff maintained that their emergence violated the ADC constitution and relevant provisions of the Electoral Act.

On Thursday, the Judge Lifu upheld Mr Gombe’s claims and granted his prayers.

As a consequence of his findings, the judge directed INEC not to recognise the decisions taken at the party’s 99th National Executive Committee meeting of 27 July 2025 and subsequent actions including nomination of candidates for the 2027 general elections.

The decision will be most likely challenged up to the level of the Supreme Court, which will give its final verdict before the general elections start in January.

An appeal against the verdict sets off a return journey to the appellate courts, which initially gave an interim resolution, with the Supreme Court restoring the Mr Mark leadership of the party in April.

The Supreme Court’s decision at the time was not the final one on the matter, as a five-member panel of the court ordered that the Federal High Court, from where the suit originated, should see the stalled proceedings to the end.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the Federal High Court’s judgement on Thursday, Mr Bala’s lawyer, Lukman Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), maintained that ADC’s actions taken from 27 July to date “stand annulled.”

Another lawyer, Luka Haruna, also a SAN, noted that the judgement meant that the ADC is “without candidates for any elective position in the 2027 elections, from the presidency to the governorship, Senate and House of Assembly.”

However, ADC’s Welfare Secretary, Nkemakolam Ukandu, said the ADC would appeal the judgement.

The ADC’s leadership crisis ensued last year in the wake of the influx of top politicians from into the party.

The political bigwigs who joined the ADC in droves included Mr Mark, Mr Aregbesola, Atiku, former Kaduna State Governor Ahmed El-Rufai, and former Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi.

The politicians, who defected mainly from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP, had adopted the ADC as a coalition platform to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election.

The leadership crisis in the party began after the resignation of the party’s former executives led by Mr Nwosu and the emergence of a new National Working Committee led by Mr Mark on 29 July 2025.

The development triggered a legal challenge when Mr Bala, a former vice-national chairperson of the party, filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking recognition as the party’s rightful leader under its constitution.

INEC was joined as the fourth defendant in the suit.

While the case was pending, the Federal High Court ordered all parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the substantive suit.

The Court of Appeal later dismissed an interlocutory appeal filed by the Mark-led faction and ordered all parties, including INEC, to maintain the status quo earlier ordered by the Federal High Court, pending further determination of the matter.

The Court of Appeal’s decision would mark a major shift in the dispute over the party’s leadership structure.

Following the ruling, INEC received letters from both factions on 16 March.

The Mark-led faction asked the commission not to recognise Mr Bala and to maintain its position pending resolution of the dispute, while the Bala faction asked INEC to give effect to the Court of Appeal judgment of 12 March in its favour.

INEC later removed the names of Mr Mark as national chairman and Mr Aregbesola as national secretary from its website on 1 April, saying it would not recognise any faction pending the resolution of the legal disputes.

While the substantive hearing at the Federal High Court in Abuja unfolded, Mr Mark and his group proceeded to the Supreme Court to challenge the Court of Appeal’s ruling.

On 14 April, the judge hearing the case, Emeka Nwite, adjourned the hearing indefinitely to await the decision of the Supreme Court.

On 30 April, the Supreme Court ordered the Federal High Court in Abuja, where the suit originated, to conclude the stalled proceedings.

It also set aside an order of the Court of Appeal which asked all parties to the dispute to maintain the status quo antebellum.

The disputed Court of Appeal judgement had prompted INEC’s decision to de-recognise the warring national leadership factions of the party.