UPDATED: Supreme Court to hear ADC leadership appeal April 22

The Supreme Court has fixed April 22 for the hearing of an appeal arising from the leadership crisis in the African Democratic Congress.

The appeal was filed by the National Chairman of the party, former Senate President David Mark, challenging earlier court decisions on the dispute.

A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Mohammed Garba, fixed the date on Tuesday, after granting an accelerated hearing in the appeal marked SC/CV/180/2026.

At Tuesday’s proceedings, the apex court directed Mark’s counsel, Jibril Okutepa, to file and serve the appellant’s brief within a short timeframe, in line with the accelerated hearing granted.

The court directed that upon service, the respondents are to file their responses within three days, while the appellants are to file replies on points of law within one day.

It further ordered that the filing and exchange of briefs must be concluded before April 20.

Following the directive, counsel to the Mark-led executives, Jibril Okutepa, withdrew a motion seeking a stay of execution of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had ordered parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum.

Okutepa said the application had become unnecessary in view of the apex court’s decision to expedite the hearing of the substantive appeal.

The court consequently struck out the motion.

Justice Garba, while addressing counsel, indicated the court’s readiness to take the appeal immediately if the parties had complied with the filing requirements.

He said, “If parties were ready, we would have taken this appeal today. We need to deal with the appeal and not the motion. Ordinarily, this court does not grant an order of stay.

“The court is willing to deal with this case as soon as possible, if parties are ready.”

The appeal emanates from the March 12 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which dismissed Mark’s appeal against a September 4, 2025, ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

At the trial court, a former Deputy National Chairman of the ADC, Nafiu Bala, had instituted a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, seeking to restrain the Mark-led leadership from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

Bala listed the ADC, Mark, the National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission, and the party’s founder, Ralph Nwosu, as defendants.

He contended that he never resigned his position as National Vice-Chairman and argued that he ought to have assumed leadership in line with the party’s constitution following Nwosu’s exit.

Bala subsequently declared himself National Chairman and approached the court for redress.

In the suit filed on September 2, 2025, he sought an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission from recognising the Mark-led executives and compelling recognition of himself as Acting National Chairman.

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

When the motion ex parte was heard on September 4, 2025, the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, ordered the respondents, including INEC, to show cause why the application should not be granted.

Dissatisfied with the proceedings, Mark challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court at the Court of Appeal.

However, in its March 12, 2026 judgment, the appellate court dismissed the appeal for being incompetent and lacking merit, and directed parties to return to the trial court and maintain the status quo ante bellum.

Subsequently, on April 1, INEC announced that it would no longer recognise either of the contending factions following its interpretation of the appellate court’s judgment.

The commission added that it would refrain from engaging with both groups or monitoring their activities pending the resolution of the dispute.

In response, the Mark-led faction approached the court, seeking an order compelling INEC to restore its recognition of the faction and its members as the party’s National Working Committee.

Meanwhile, the apex court is also expected to hear appeals relating to the leadership dispute within the People’s Democratic Party on the same date, as the crisis in both opposition parties continues to generate multiple litigations across courts.