A federal high court in Abuja has fixed April 14 for hearing a suit filed by Nafiu Bala, a former deputy national chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), challenging David Mark’s leadership of the party.
Bala is seeking to stop the Mark-led leadership from
parading themselves as national officers of the ADC.
BACKGROUND
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, lists the ADC, Mark,
Rauf Aregbesola (national secretary), the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), and Ralph Nwosu, the party’s founder and former national
chairman, as defendants.
Bala maintained that he never resigned his position as
national vice-chairman and argued that he ought to have assumed leadership in
line with the party’s constitution following Nwosu’s exit as national chairman.
He later declared himself national chairman, vowing to
challenge the Mark leadership in court.
In the suit filed on September 2, 2025, Bala is seeking an
order restraining INEC from recognising Mark-led executives and compelling
recognition of himself as acting national chairman.
He also filed motions seeking to stop the party from holding
meetings, congresses, or conventions pending the determination of the suit.
The motion ex parte was heard on September 4, 2025, and
Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge, directed that the respondents, including
INEC, be put on notice to show cause why the motion ex parte should not be
granted.
Dissatisfied with an interim ruling, Mark filed an appeal
challenging the jurisdiction of the federal high court to continue to hear
Bala’s suit.
However, on March 12, 2026, the court of appeal dismissed
Mark’s case in its entirety, holding that it was incompetent and unmeritorious.
The court of appeal directed parties to return to the trial
court and maintain the status quo ante bellum pending determination of the
suit.
On April 1, INEC announced that it would no longer recognise
the factions of the ADC led by Mark or Bala, following its review of the court
of appeal judgement.
The commission also said it would refrain from engaging with
both groups or monitoring their meetings, congresses, and conventions.
In response to INEC’s decision, the Mark-led faction filed a
motion asking the court to compel the commission to restore their names and
recognise them as members of the party’s national working committee (NWC).
The motion, filed on April 7 by Sulaiman Usman, a senior
advocate of Nigeria (SAN), also seeks an accelerated hearing of the case.
Mark has also filed a preliminary objection challenging the
competence of the suit.
He argued that Bala lacks the locus standi to institute the
action, having resigned his position as national vice-chairman of the party.
According to him, the suit is based on “falsehood and
suppression of material facts” and relates to the internal affairs of a
political party, which he said are not justiciable.
“This honourable court lacks jurisdiction to entertain this
suit. The suit constitutes a gross abuse of court process,” Mark argued.
Aregbesola also urged the court to dismiss the case,
contending that Bala is no longer a member of the party’s national executive
committee (NEC).
He said Bala resigned his position to allow for
restructuring within the party, adding that the resignation was duly
communicated to INEC.
Aregbesola described the suit as unmeritorious and asked the
court to award N50 million in costs against the plaintiff.
Similarly, Nwosu filed a preliminary objection, arguing that
the suit is premature, stating that Bala failed to exhaust the party’s internal
dispute resolution mechanisms before approaching the court.
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