The Federal High Court in Abuja will on Monday, September 14, resume hearing in the ADC leadership crisis involving Senator David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola and others over the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Justice Peter Odo Lifu will hear the suit challenging the National Executive Committee (NEC) led by former Senate President David Mark.
The court scheduled the hearing for 9 a.m., according to a hearing notice issued to parties involved in the leadership dispute and spotted on Sunday. The date also coincides with the expected end of the 2026 annual court vacation.
The latest hearing follows a N3 million fine imposed on Mark, Aregbesola and the ADC after they filed several applications that Justice Lifu described as unmeritorious attempts to delay the suit and waste the court’s time.
In separate rulings, Justice Peter Lifu fined Mark, Aregbesola and the ADC N1 million each over their actions. The court ordered them to pay the fines to Nafiu Bala Gombe, the party’s former Deputy National Chairman, and two other plaintiffs who filed the suit against them.
The judge dismissed the 27 individual motions that Mark, Aregbesola, ADC, and others had made to attack the Gombe case and request its dismissal at the preliminary stage because they were false and frivolous.
In particular, a number of members of ADC’s National Working Committee (NWC) filed separate applications pleading to be added as defendants in the lawsuit.
The judge dismissed their bids on the grounds that the ruling about David Mark and Aregbesola, who were sued as the National Chairman and National Secretary of the ADC along with the NWC, would determine their interest.
However, a review of the September 14 hearing notice revealed that the parties must adopt their briefs of argument before a final judgement date is set.
Former ADC National Deputy Chairman Nafiu Gombe is requesting an order prohibiting Mark, Aregbesola, and others from posing as party leaders.
Backstory…
The ADC leadership crisis did not begin with the emergence of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola. It dates back to 2025, when the ADC became the vehicle for a broader opposition coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
Recall that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, and former national chairman Ralph Nwosu were listed as the first to fifth defendants in the plaintiff’s suit.
Gombe’s lawsuit contended that the assumption of power by Mark, Aregbesola, and other current leaders violated both the Electoral Act and the ADC constitution regarding the selection of party leadership through National Conventions.
Read Also: ADC Crisis-Court Freezes Nafiu Bala’s Case Pending Supreme Court Decision on Mark’s Appeal
