Three members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) have filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to nullify the appointment of Senator David Mark and other key figures as interim leaders of the party.
The plaintiffs, Adeyemi Emmanuel, Ayodeji Victor Tolu, and Haruna Ismaila, are asking the court to declare the interim leadership arrangement unconstitutional, insisting it contradicts the ADC constitution and flouts an earlier court ruling.
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At the heart of the legal challenge is the claim that the handover of ADC’s leadership structure to individuals involved in a merger arrangement, allegedly orchestrated to build a coalition against President Bola Tinubu in 2027, violates party rules and an existing court judgment.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1328, names the ADC as the 1st defendant; the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the 2nd defendant; and the immediate past National Chairman of the party, Ralph Nwosu, as the 3rd defendant.
Others joining the suit are Senator David Mark, recently appointed Interim National Chairman (4th defendant); former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the Interim National Secretary (5th defendant); and former Minister of Sports Bolaji Abdullahi, the Interim National Publicity Secretary (6th defendant).
The aggrieved members requested that the court determine several constitutional issues, including whether the appointment of the new interim executives was valid under the ADC Constitution (2018, as amended).
They also questioned the eligibility of Mark, Aregbesola, and Abdullahi to hold the respective positions, given their alleged lack of proper registration with the party, and whether interim positions even exist in the ADC’s constitution.
“Whether or not the appointment of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Defendants… was made in breach of the provisions of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Constitution, 2018 (as amended),” the suit queried.
The plaintiffs further questioned the legality of INEC’s recognition of the new leadership and asked the court to void the transition of power by Ralph Nwosu, saying it violated a subsisting judgment by Justice Binta Nyako in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1541/2022 delivered on December 21, 2022.
The legal action threatens the unity of a political coalition, spearheaded by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, which recently adopted ADC as its platform to unseat the APC-led government in the 2027 general elections.
Following that announcement, Ralph Nwosu had declared the dissolution of all existing party structures to pave the way for the newly appointed interim leadership.
Among the reliefs sought, the plaintiffs asked the court to declare the interim leadership “unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void,” and to issue an order restraining INEC from recognising the appointments.
No date has been set for the hearing of the case.