Court Adjourns Suit Seeking To Sack David Mark-Led ADC Leadership

The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the hearing of a suit challenging the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) under former Senate President David Mark.

According to Ireporter Online, the case was scheduled for hearing on Monday, September 14, 2026, but proceedings could not commence because the presiding judge, Justice Peter Lifu, was not sitting.

The court subsequently fixed September 28, 2026, for the hearing of the matter.

The suit was filed by an aggrieved ADC member, Nafiu-Bala Gombe, who is asking the court to restrain Mark, former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola and other members of the party’s interim National Working Committee from presenting themselves as leaders of the ADC.

Gombe is challenging the process through which Mark, Aregbesola and other members of the interim leadership emerged, arguing that their emergence was not in accordance with the provisions of the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act.

The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, has the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and former ADC National Chairman Ralph Nwosu listed as the first to fifth defendants respectively.

The matter had previously been fixed for the hearing of pending applications after Justice Lifu dismissed separate requests by the ADC and Aregbesola seeking his withdrawal from the case.

The two defendants had asked the judge to recuse himself over allegations of bias, but the court rejected their applications.

Following the dismissal, Justice Lifu ordered both the ADC and Aregbesola to pay a ₦1 million fine, with the sum awarded in favour of Gombe.

Nwosu, who previously served as the ADC national chairman, had stepped down from the position before the emergence of the interim leadership headed by Mark.