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\nIt also invalidated all decisions taken by the party under the leadership, including the emergence of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n
By Godwin Okafor,Abuja<\/p>\n
Less than 70 days to the upcoming 2027 election the Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) led by former Senate President David Mark.
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\nIt also invalidated all decisions taken by the party under the leadership, including the emergence of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n
The court also voided the emergence of former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, as the party\u2019s National Secretary, as well as the appointments of other national officers and the nominations of candidates presented by the party for the 2027 elections.<\/p>\n
Justice Peter Lifu, who delivered the judgment on Thursday, declared the Mark-led Caretaker Committee illegal, holding that the committee lacked the constitutional authority to assume control of the party and conduct its affairs.<\/p>\n
The judgment followed a suit marked FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/1819\/2025, instituted by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former Deputy National Chairman of the ADC (North-East), who challenged the process through which Mark and other members of the caretaker committee emerged as the party\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
Gombe had argued that following the resignation of the party\u2019s former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, he was constitutionally entitled to assume the leadership of the party.<\/p>\n
He consequently approached the court to challenge the legitimacy of the Mark-led leadership, seeking an order invalidating its decisions and restraining Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as the party\u2019s National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively.<\/p>\n
Upholding the plaintiff\u2019s case, Justice Lifu held that the emergence of the Mark-led leadership contravened the provisions of the ADC constitution, the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution.<\/p>\n
The court further directed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should not recognise or act on decisions reached at the party\u2019s 99th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held on July 27, 2025.<\/p>\n
The decision effectively invalidated the actions taken by the party under the leadership that emerged from the disputed process, including its preparations for the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the judgment, Lukman Fagbemi (SAN), counsel to Gombe, said the ruling nullified all actions taken by the party since the disputed NEC meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the actions taken by the ADC as a party since July 27 to date stand annulled,\u201d Fagbemi said.<\/p>\n
Another counsel to the plaintiff, Luka Musa Haruna (SAN), said the judgment had left the ADC without candidates for elective positions in the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n
According to him, the implication of the ruling extends beyond the party\u2019s presidential ticket to its candidates for governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly elections.<\/p>\n
The judgment therefore places the party\u2019s preparations for the 2027 elections in uncertainty, particularly the status of its presidential candidate, Atiku, and other candidates who had emerged through processes conducted under the now-invalidated leadership.<\/p>\n
However, the ADC indicated that it would challenge the ruling at a higher court.<\/p>\n
Nkemakolam Ukandu, the party\u2019s National Welfare Secretary, who was joined in the suit as an interested party, said the party would appeal the judgment.<\/p>\n
The ruling came barely 24 hours after Atiku, whose name had earlier been published by INEC as a presidential candidate, held a campaign rally in Sokoto State.<\/p>\n
The development represents a major setback for the party’s preparations for the 2027 elections, as the court’s decision has thrown into question the legitimacy of its leadership structure and the validity of the decisions taken under the Mark-led caretaker committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Godwin Okafor,Abuja Less than 70 days to the upcoming 2027 election the Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) led by former Senate President David Mark. It also invalidated all decisions taken by the party under the leadership, including the emergence of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19454","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=19454"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19485,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19454\/revisions\/19485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}