Court Fixes April 14 To Hear Suit Challenging Mark’s ADC Leadership

A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed April 14 for hearing a suit filed by Nafiu Bala, a former Deputy National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), challenging the leadership of former Senate President David Mark.

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Bala is asking the court to stop the Mark-led leadership from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, lists the ADC, David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Ralph Nwosu, the party’s founder and former national chairman, as defendants.

Bala argues that he never resigned his position as National Vice-Chairman of the party and should have automatically assumed leadership following Nwosu’s exit as national chairman.

He subsequently declared himself National Chairman of the ADC, insisting that the party’s constitution supports his claim.

In the suit filed on September 2, 2025, Bala asked the court to restrain INEC from recognising the Mark-led executives and compel the electoral body to recognise him as acting national chairman.

He also filed motions seeking to stop the party from holding meetings, congresses, or conventions pending the determination of the case.

When the motion ex parte came up for hearing on September 4, 2025, Justice Emeka Nwite directed the defendants, including INEC, to appear in court and show cause why the application should not be granted.

However, Mark later filed an appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to continue hearing the case.

On March 12, 2026, the Court of Appeal dismissed Mark’s appeal in its entirety, describing it as incompetent and lacking merit.

The appellate court subsequently directed the parties to return to the trial court and maintain the status quo ante bellum pending the determination of the suit.

Following the appellate court’s ruling, INEC announced on April 1 that it would no longer recognise the factions of the ADC led by Mark or Bala.

The commission said it would refrain from engaging with either faction or monitoring their meetings, congresses, and conventions.

In response to INEC’s decision, the Mark-led faction filed a motion asking the court to compel the electoral body to restore their names and recognise them as members of the party’s National Working Committee.

The motion, filed on April 7 by Sulaiman Usman (SAN), also requested an accelerated hearing of the case.

Mark also filed a preliminary objection challenging the competence of Bala’s suit.

According to him, Bala lacks the locus standi to institute the action because he had earlier resigned his position as national vice-chairman of the party.

Mark further argued that the suit was based on falsehood and suppression of material facts and relates to the internal affairs of a political party, which he said are not justiciable.

“This honourable court lacks jurisdiction to entertain this suit. The suit constitutes a gross abuse of court process,” Mark argued.

Similarly, Rauf Aregbesola, the ADC National Secretary, urged the court to dismiss the suit, maintaining that Bala is no longer a member of the party’s National Executive Committee.

He said Bala had resigned his position to allow for restructuring within the party and that the resignation was duly communicated to INEC.

Aregbesola also asked the court to award ₦50 million in costs against the plaintiff.

In the same vein, Ralph Nwosu, the party’s founder and former national chairman, filed a preliminary objection arguing that the case was premature.

Nwosu maintained that Bala failed to exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before approaching the court.