David Mark will continue to lead the African Democratic Congress (ADC) after the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a suit challenging the party’s current leadership.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, Justice Musa Liman ruled that the case filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide was without merit, holding that it concerned the internal affairs of a political party and therefore could not be entertained by the court.
The judge upheld the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its immediate past National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, the party’s current National Chairman, David Mark, and National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola.
Justice Liman found that Abejide failed to demonstrate that any of his legal rights had been infringed by the emergence of the party’s present leadership.
He further held that the lawmaker did not first explore the ADC’s internal dispute resolution process before taking the matter to court.
The court also reaffirmed the legal principle that disputes arising from the internal management and leadership of political parties generally fall outside judicial intervention unless there is evidence of a breach of the law or violation of a member’s legal rights.
On the substantive issues, the court concluded that the leadership transition from Nwosu to Mark complied with both the ADC Constitution and the Electoral Act, dismissing all arguments to the contrary.
As part of the ruling, Justice Liman ordered Abejide to pay N2 million in litigation costs to each of the defendants.
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The court also imposed a separate N10 million cost against the lawmaker’s counsel in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Abejide had instituted the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, on February 15, seeking to overturn the transfer of the party’s leadership from Nwosu to Mark and Aregbesola, which he argued was unlawful.
The defendants in the case included the ADC, Nwosu, Mark, Aregbesola and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Among the reliefs sought, the lawmaker asked the court to nullify the July 2, 2025, leadership handover held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre.
He contended that the appointments of Mark and Aregbesola failed to comply with the Electoral Act and also requested orders preventing them from acting as the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary, while asking the court to stop INEC from recognising them in those positions.
However, the court rejected all the claims, affirming the legitimacy of the ADC’s current leadership.
The leadership change in the ADC followed efforts by opposition politicians to reposition the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Those moves resulted in Mark assuming the office of National Chairman and Aregbesola becoming National Secretary, developments that have generated political attention as well as legal disputes within the party.