The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential campaign council has asked the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate two federal high court judges over the transfer of a case involving the party’s leadership dispute from Emeka Nwite to Peter Lifu.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Phrank Shaibu, director of
strategic communications of the ADC presidential campaign council, said John
Tsoho, chief judge of the federal high court, reassigned the case a day after
receiving a formal protest from Rauf Aregbesola, the party’s national
secretary.
Shaibu called on the NJC to examine the transfer of the case
by Tsoho, the protest received by him, and Lifu’s conduct in the matter.
He said the transfer raised concerns about the impartiality
of the process, particularly because Nwite had already begun hearing the case
and had not recused himself.
The opposition party accused him of bias, because he
reassigned the case to Lifu who gave the initial judgement derecognising the
David Mark-led leadership.
The ADC campaign council spokesperson said the party’s
lawyers had taken the legal questions surrounding the matter before the court
of appeal, adding that it would respect the appellate court’s decision.
However, he called for the immediate release of the full
judgement that sacked the Mark-led ADC leadership, saying the party needed the
official copy and the reasons for the decision to pursue further legal action.
“The ADC must be given the official copy and the reasons for
the decision so that we can proceed with the appropriate legal action.
Withholding the judgment obstructs our right to challenge it and denies the
appellate court the benefit of a complete record,” the statement reads.
Shaibu said the plaintiff had sought to have the case
transferred from Nwite on the grounds of delay and a lack of confidence in
obtaining a timely hearing.
He said ADC lawyers responded to the request on May 11,
2026, listing previous adjournments, disputing the plaintiff’s account of who
was responsible for them and describing the application as forum shopping.
He added that Aregbesola wrote to Tsoho on June 2, asking
him to reverse the reassignment and formally protesting the transfer on the
grounds that the party lacked confidence in Lifu’s impartiality.
According to Shaibu, the case was assigned to Lifu the
following day despite the protest.
“The sequence and timing of this transfer raise grave
concerns about bias and create an appearance that the process was not handled
with the impartiality this matter demanded,” he said.
“Justice Tsoho must answer those concerns openly. The public
is entitled to know why our formal protest was set aside and why the case was
reassigned the very next day.”
The ADC campaign spokesperson also questioned Lifu’s
handling of a separate suit in which he ordered the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the party and four others.
He said the court of appeal had stayed proceedings in that
matter, but Lifu went ahead to deliver judgement, which was later nullified by
the appellate court.
He also cited a judgement by Musa Liman, a judge, who
dismissed a challenge to the party’s leadership for lack of merit and locus
standi.
According to Shaibu, Liman held that the internal party
dispute was non-justiciable, declared the leadership handover lawful and said
INEC was entitled to recognise the national chairman and national secretary.
He argued that Lifu, sitting at the same federal high court,
could not disregard the earlier judgement, adding that the issue was among the
legal questions before the court of appeal.
Shaibu maintained that Atiku Abubakar remained ADC’s
presidential candidate, saying the party would defend its position before the
appellate court.
“The law is on his side, not sentiment. We will defend that
position before the court of appeal and keep the record before Nigerians,” he
added.
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