{"id":128078,"date":"2026-07-02T21:35:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=128078"},"modified":"2026-07-02T21:35:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:35:46","slug":"court-affirms-mark-led-adc-leadership-as-atiku-hails-judgment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/court-affirms-mark-led-adc-leadership-as-atiku-hails-judgment\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Affirms Mark-Led ADC Leadership as Atiku Hails Judgment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>By John Azu<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has welcomed the Federal High Court judgment affirming the David Mark-led leadership of the party, describing it as a victory for the rule of law and judicial independence.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Justice Musa Liman, in a judgment delivered in Abuja on Thursday, dismissed a suit filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide challenging the emergence of the current ADC leadership.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The judge upheld the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, David Mark and the party\u2019s National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Justice Liman held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter because it concerned the internal affairs of a political party, which are non-justiciable. He also ruled that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit, having failed to show how his rights were violated.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The court further held that the lawmaker did not exhaust the party\u2019s internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the merits of the case, Justice Liman ruled that the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola complied with both the ADC Constitution and the Electoral Act, 2026.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the court, the July 2, 2025 stakeholders\u2019 meeting, where Nwosu handed over the party\u2019s leadership, validly preceded the National Executive Committee meeting of July 29, 2025, which formally ratified Mark and Aregbesola as the party\u2019s National Chairman and National Secretary under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The judge awarded N2 million in costs against Abejide in favour of each of the defendants and further ordered the lawmaker\u2019s counsel to pay N10 million as costs pursuant to the Electoral Act, 2026.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Abejide had, in suit No. FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/1637\/2025 filed on February 15, sought to nullify the July 2, 2025 handover of the party\u2019s leadership, arguing that the process violated the ADC Constitution and relevant provisions of the Electoral Act. He also sought orders restraining Mark and Aregbesola from acting as the party\u2019s national officers and preventing INEC from recognising them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reacting to the judgment, Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, said the decision reaffirmed established legal principles on the internal affairs of political parties.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The court rightly held that the matter borders on the internal affairs of the ADC, that the Federal High Court lacks jurisdiction, and that the plaintiffs neither exhausted the internal remedies provided by the party&#8217;s constitution nor established the locus standi required to invoke the jurisdiction of the court,&#8221; he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also commended the court for resisting what he described as attempts to politicise the judiciary.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We commend Justice Liman for refusing to allow the judiciary to be converted into an extension of partisan political warfare,&#8221; he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Atiku described the judgment as a boost for the opposition, alleging that there had been sustained efforts to destabilise the ADC through litigation.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Today&#8217;s decision is a resounding affirmation that the judiciary remains the last hope of the common man and cannot be intimidated into legitimising political mischief,&#8221; he stressed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He congratulated the David Mark-led leadership and urged party members to remain united ahead of future political engagements.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;We congratulate the leadership of our great party under Distinguished Senator David Mark and reassure Nigerians that the ADC remains united, focused, and determined to offer the credible alternative that our nation urgently needs,&#8221; Atiku added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By John Azu The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has welcomed the Federal High Court judgment affirming the David Mark-led leadership of the party, describing&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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