Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed June 3 for hearing in a suit filed by Nafiu-Bala Gombe, seeking to stop David Mark and others from parading themselves as leaders of the African Democratic Congress, ADC.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, hearing notices
have since been issued and served on lawyers to the parties in the suit.
The case, filed by the aggrieved former National Deputy
Chairman of ADC, was earlier before Justice Emeka Nwite of a sister court.
The matter was, however, reassigned to Justice Lifu,
following Justice Nwite’s recent elevation to the Court of Appeal.
The National Judicial Council, NJC, at its 111th meeting on
May 13, had recommended the appointment of 12 new justices of the Court of
Appeal, including Justice Nwite, to President Bola Tinubu for approval.
Gombe, in the suit, is seeking an order restraining ADC
National Chairman, Mark, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the National Secretary, and
members of the interim National Working Committee, NWC, from parading
themselves as the party’s leaders.
He had argued that the emergence of Mark, Aregbesola and
other NWC members as the party’s leaders breached the provisions of the party’s
constitution and the Electoral Act.
Gombe had sued ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC, and Ralph Nwosu as 1st to 5th defendants
respectively in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025.
Nwosu was the former ADC National Chairman who stepped down
for David Mark’s leadership of the party.
Justice Nwite had, on April 14, adjourned the case sine die
(indefinitely) following Gombe’s request to await the Supreme Court’s judgment
in the appeal filed by Mark.
However, the Supreme Court, on April 30, set aside the order
made by the Court of Appeal in Abuja ordering the maintenance of status quo
ante bellum in the leadership dispute in ADC, on which INEC acted in
derecognising the Mark-led leadership of the party.
The apex court ordered the parties to return to the FHC for
expeditious hearing of the case filed by Gombe, an aggrieved chieftain of the
party.
INEC had, since, complied with the Supreme Court judgment by
reversing the removal of Mark-led leadership from the commission’s official
portal.
When the case came up on May 8 before Justice Nwite
following the Supreme Court order, Luka Haruna, SAN, who appeared for Gombe,
sought the transfer of the case from Nwite to another judge.
Although no reason was given, Haruna said a letter had been
written to the CJ to the effect.
But lawyers to the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola and Nwosu,
disagreed with the application.
ADC’s counsel, Rilwan Okpanachi; Suleiman Usman, SAN, who
appeared for Mark; Mohammed Sheriff, who represented Aregbesola; P. I. Oyewole,
counsel for Chief Ralph Nwosu, and other lawyers in the case vehemently opposed
Gombe’s request for the case transfer.
The lawyers, who said that Gombe’s letter had not been
served on them, described Haruna’s application as “an ambush”.
They also considered the request as an attempt to frustrate
the order of the Appeal Court for accelerated hearing which was sustained by
the Supreme Court.
The defence lawyers, who described Gombe’s application as
‘forum shopping,” said the only good thing the application for the transfer of
the matter had achieved was that the integrity of the court had been confirmed.
They said this was so because nothing tangible had happened
since the last adjournment.
The lawyers said they maintained absolute confidence in the
integrity, impartiality and sound judicial discretion of Justice Nwite’s court.
“The so-called letter in a normal view, is a fundamental
breach of procedure, amounting in law to an illegality and not a mere
irregularity,” they argued.
They said they would have insisted that the court should go
on with the hearing but for a certified true copy, CTC, of the Supreme Court
judgment which was yet to be obtained, in order for the trial court to be
properly guided by it.
They, therefore, sought an indefinite adjournment to enable
them furnish the judge with the CTC of the judgment and Justice Nwite adjourned
the case sine die (indefinitely), pending when its CTC is gotten.
NAN reports that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar
emerged as ADC presidential candidate on May 27 after defeating two other
aspirants, including Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation, at the
party’s national convention.
Also, Dumebi Kachikwu, in a national convention conducted by
another faction of ADC, emerged the presidential candidate of the party for the
2027 general election.
The 2023 presidential candidate of the party was adopted by
factional members of the party as sole presidential candidate on May 24.
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