Nigeria’s opposition politics received a significant judicial boost on Thursday after a Federal High Court in Abuja affirmed the leadership of former Senate President David Mark at the helm of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), dismissing a suit that sought to overturn the party’s recent restructuring.
The ruling comes as the ADC seeks to position itself as a formidable opposition platform ahead of the 2027 general election and amid growing political realignments involving former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and other opposition figures.
Delivering judgment, Justice Musa Liman held that the dispute over the party’s leadership was an internal matter beyond the jurisdiction of the court. He upheld preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its former national chairman Ralph Nwosu, Mark and the party’s national secretary, former Osun governor Rauf Aregbesola.
The court also ruled that the plaintiff, House of Representatives member Leke Abejide, lacked the legal standing to institute the action because he failed to demonstrate how his rights had been infringed by the emergence of the new leadership. It further held that he had not exhausted the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before approaching the court.
Justice Liman went beyond procedural questions to address the substance of the case, ruling that the transition of power from Nwosu to Mark and Aregbesola complied with both the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act, 2026.
The judge noted that the stakeholders’ meeting of 2 July 2025, at which Nwosu handed over the party’s leadership, preceded the National Executive Committee meeting later that month that formally produced Mark and Aregbesola as national chairman and national secretary under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The court awarded costs of N2m each against Abejide in favour of the defendants and ordered the lawmaker’s counsel to pay an additional N10m pursuant to the Electoral Act.
Abejide had sought to nullify the July 2025 leadership transition, arguing that it breached both the party’s constitution and electoral law. He also requested an order restraining Mark and Aregbesola from presenting themselves as party leaders and an injunction preventing the electoral commission from recognising them.
The judgment was immediately welcomed by Atiku, whose camp has been closely associated with efforts to build a broad opposition coalition around the ADC.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the ruling as a victory for constitutional democracy and condemned what he characterised as attempts to use the courts as instruments of partisan political warfare.
“The court could not have been clearer,” Atiku said. “It 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’s constitution nor established the locus standi required to invoke the jurisdiction of the court.”
He argued that the decision came at a time when “desperate elements operating from the corridors of power” were allegedly seeking to weaken the opposition through litigation and institutional pressure.
Atiku also defended the legitimacy of the Mark-led National Working Committee, insisting that it emerged through a lawful and transparent process.
“No amount of forum shopping or judicial adventurism can alter that fact,” he said.
Mark, for his part, described the ruling as a major victory for democracy and the rule of law, saying it vindicated the party’s longstanding position that political parties must be allowed to manage their affairs without undue interference.
“Today’s judgment has reaffirmed that no individual or institution is above the law and that the judiciary remains the ultimate guardian of our constitutional order,” he said in a statement issued by his media adviser, Kola Ologbondiyan.
The ADC also hailed the ruling as a triumph for multiparty democracy, expressing hope that it would bring an end to what it called repeated attempts to destabilise the party through litigation.
Its national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the judgment reinforced the principle that questions surrounding party leadership remain internal matters and are generally not justiciable.
The party accused unnamed actors of attempting to impose a one-party state by undermining opposition parties through the courts and said its focus remained on presenting alternatives to the government’s policies amid worsening insecurity, rising living costs and declining economic opportunities.
Thursday’s judgment is the latest in a series of legal battles triggered by the ADC’s reorganisation and the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola as leaders of a restructured party that hopes to become the principal vehicle for opposition politics before the next presidential election.
For now, the court’s decision appears to have strengthened that project, giving the party’s new leadership both legal legitimacy and political momentum as the race towards 2027 begins to gather pace.
