Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja has refused to grant an ex parte application seeking to stop the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and other officials of the party from parading themselves as leaders of the party.
The judge, while ruling in an ex parte motion brought by a former National Vice Chairman of the party, Nafiu-Bala Gombe declined the motion, saying he must hear the substantive matter first before making a decision.
Justice Nwite made the ruling on September 4 after Gombe filed the motion on September 2 in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, thus dashing the hopes of the plaintiff to invalidate the positions of the mark-led ADC.
Named as defendants in the suit are the INEC, Mark, Aregbesola, as 4th, 2nd and 3rd defendants.
The motion was filed by on behalf of Gombe by his lawyer, Michael Agber, according to checks from the court documents.
The coalition -party had recently approved Mark as the substantive National Chairman of the party, while Rauf Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun state who had earlier held the position of Acting National secretary was also substantiated as the party’s scribe.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has also approved the Mark-led ADC leadership, despite a recent declaration by Gombe that he’s the party’s National chairman.
On July 31, 2025, Gombe, a former ADC governorship candidate in Gombe state declared himself the party’s Interim National Chairman, saying he took the action in view of the leadership crisis rocking the party.
Gombe: “I, Honourable Nafiu Bala, a bonafide member and a duly elected National Deputy Chairman of our great party, the African Democratic Congress wishes to draw the attention of the entire members of our great party and Nigerians at large, to the ongoing acts of political hooliganism being perpetrated by some individuals who were hitherto entrusted with the leadership of the party.
“We are all living witnesses to the show of shame and acts of lawlessness being displayed by these unscrupulous leaders, who, without any qualm or sense of moral restraint, plunged our party into a needless crisis and leadership uncertainty. The idea of mortgaging the future of our great party, by abdicating the constitutional duties and responsibilities of all elected officers of the party, to some powerful outsiders who never belong to the party, is condemnable.
”Recently, the nation woke up only to be greeted by a shoddily rehearsed political melodrama, in which elected roles were switched with certain groups of political strangers in order to facilitate the complete takeover of the party structures and its political appurtenances.
“This total surrender and capitulation is without any known precedent in our democratic journey to constitutional order. We are therefore strongly resolved and collectively determined to challenge this affront and ensure that the party’s laid down rules and stipulated provisions are respected and strictly adhered to by all those who belong to it.
“In case these individuals choose to ignore our urgent calls to obey our constitutional guidelines and thus remain very obdurate and recalcitrant in their aberrant behaviour, we shall proceed with gusto to challenge these gross acts of impunity in the courts and bring them to justice.
“It gives us enormous pain to inundate you with these scandalous happenings in our party, but we have been left with no other option to take in defence of our inalienable constitutional rights, as evident by the prevailing situation we now find ourselves in the party. In the history of democracy all over the world, no party leader or any group of leaders have the power to arbitrarily transfer elected mandate or political authority to non-members who never belonged or contested for political office.”
The magazine had earlier reported that Dumebi Kachikwu, a former presidential candidate of the party rejected the ADC Mark-led leadership, accusing the former Senate President and others of plans to hijack the party.
The matter is still in court.
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