A Federal High Court in Abuja has ruled that a caretaker leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) led by former Senate President David Mark lacks the legal authority to organise state congresses or constitute committees for that purpose, in a judgment that marks a setback for the faction.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who delivered the judgment on Wednesday, went further to prohibit the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from giving any recognition to congresses conducted by the disputed caretaker body.
The case was brought by Norman Obinna and six others acting on behalf of ADC state chairpersons who argued that the elected executives of the party at the state level remained in office and that any attempt to bypass them violated both the party’s own rules and Nigeria’s constitution.
Mark, alongside Patricia Akwashiki, Bolaji Abdullahi, Rauf Aregbesola, Oserheimen Osunbor and INEC were named as defendants. They had urged the court to throw out the case, arguing that it touched on internal party matters beyond judicial reach, that the plaintiffs had no legal standing, and that proper internal dispute channels had not been exhausted.
Justice Abdulmalik rejected all those arguments. She held that once a party’s constitution or statutory provisions are alleged to have been breached, the court has both the right and the duty to step in. She found that the congress committee set up by the caretaker leadership had no basis in the ADC’s own governing documents and that the elected state executives retained valid tenure that must be allowed to run its course.
On the defendants’ claim that the dispute was purely an internal party matter, the judge was firm. Courts ordinarily do not meddle in a party’s internal affairs, she acknowledged, but that principle has limits. Where the allegation is one of constitutional or statutory violation, judicial intervention is not only appropriate but obligatory.
She also held that the matter fell within the Federal High Court’s jurisdiction because INEC, a federal body, was directly involved.
The ruling restrains Mark and the other defendants from convening any congress or convention outside the framework laid down by the party’s constitution and from taking any action that could undermine or disrupt the authority of the existing state executive committees.
Despite the judgment, the ADC crisis is far from over. The Supreme Court is yet to rule on a separate appeal filed by the Mark faction, which questions whether the Federal High Court even had jurisdiction to hear the original suit.
The apex court heard that appeal on April 22 and is expected to announce a judgment date. Its verdict, whenever it comes, could either settle the matter or send the case back down the judicial ladder.
