By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
The leadership crisis rocking the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has taken a fresh turn, with the faction led by David Mark appealing to the Supreme Court of Nigeria for an expedited judgment on the party\u2019s protracted legal dispute.<\/p>\n
In a letter dated April 28, 2026, and addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the faction warned that any further delay in delivering judgment could jeopardize the party\u2019s participation in the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n
The apex court had, on April 22, reserved judgment in an appeal filed by Mark, challenging earlier rulings on the ADC leadership tussle. <\/p>\n
The appeal, marked SC\/CV\/180\/2026, contests the decision of the Court of Appeal, which upheld a lower court ruling against his faction.<\/p>\n
Mark, a former Senate President, argued before the court that the appellate court overstepped its bounds by interfering in what he described as the internal affairs of a political party.<\/p>\n
The dispute originated from a September 4, 2025 judgment of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, which was instituted by Nafiu Bala. Bala, who claims to be the legitimate national chairman of the party, is challenging what he described as an unlawful takeover of the ADC structure by the Mark-led faction.<\/p>\n
Following the lower court\u2019s ruling, the Court of Appeal, in a judgment delivered on March 12, 2026, dismissed Mark\u2019s appeal, effectively affirming the earlier decision and deepening the internal rift within the party.<\/p>\n
In the letter signed by the party\u2019s counsel, Shaibu Enejoh Aruwa, the Mark faction alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), acting on the strength of the appellate court judgment, has already moved to de-recognise the party\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
According to the faction, this development has left the ADC without a legally recognised leadership structure, despite remaining a duly registered political party.<\/p>\n
The letter stressed that ongoing electoral preparations by INEC, including the release of its timetable for the 2027 elections, have heightened the urgency of the situation.<\/p>\n
The Mark led faction warned that failure by the Supreme Court to deliver judgment within three days of the letter could have dire consequences.<\/p>\n
It argued that without a clear leadership structure affirmed by the court, the party would be unable to meet statutory requirements necessary to participate in the elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout the delivery of judgment within the next three days the ADC stands the grave and irreversible risk of being excluded from participating in the 2027 General Election,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n
The faction further noted that such an outcome would disenfranchise millions of Nigerians who identify with the party and wish to contest elections under its platform.<\/p>\n
While acknowledging the workload of the court, the ADC counsel urged the Chief Justice to intervene in ensuring that judgment is delivered promptly, emphasizing the time-sensitive nature of the matter.<\/p>\n
The letter argued that in the peculiar circumstances of the case, any delay in judgment would effectively amount to a denial of justice, given the looming electoral deadlines and the implications for democratic participation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent The leadership crisis rocking the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has taken a fresh turn, with the faction led by David Mark appealing to the Supreme Court of Nigeria for an expedited judgment on the party\u2019s protracted legal dispute. In a letter dated April 28, 2026, and addressed to the Chief Justice of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1931,689,3600],"class_list":["post-13101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","tag-dispute","tag-legal","tag-protracted"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13102,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13101\/revisions\/13102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}