Court Didn’t Nullify Atiku’s Candidacy, ADC Lawyer Insists

A lawyer for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kalu Kalu, has maintained {that a} Federal High Court ruling that nullified the Senator David Mark-led management of the celebration didn’t cancel former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s nomination because the celebration’s presidential candidate for the January 16, 2027 election.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Thursday, Kalu argued that the judgment by Justice Peter Lifu contained no specific order voiding Atiku’s candidacy or these of different candidates chosen beneath the Mark-led government. He mentioned some folks had been studying into the ruling conclusions that weren’t said within the courtroom’s orders.

“There is no portion of that judgment that voids the candidacy of Atiku Abubakar and the other candidates of the party,” Kalu mentioned. He added that the ruling “does not in any way void the candidacy of Atiku Abubakar for the presidential election coming up on the 16th day of January 2027.”

Kalu blamed the confusion on social media interpretations, saying members of the general public had attributed to the courtroom selections that weren’t expressly contained within the judgment.The controversy stems from the November 5 judgment in a go well with filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former Deputy National Chairman of the ADC.

Gombe challenged the method by which Mark and different officers assumed management after the resignation of the celebration’s former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, and different executives in July 2025. He contended that the vacancies ought to have been crammed by way of a democratic course of consistent with the celebration’s structure and the Electoral Act.

Justice Lifu nullified the emergence of Mark as National Chairman and former Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary. The decide declared all actions, selections and steps taken by Mark, Aregbesola and different members of the National Working Committee from July 29, 2025, null and void.

He additionally restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or coping with them as nationwide officers of the celebration and directed the fee to not act on selections from the ADC’s 99th National Executive Committee assembly of July 27, 2025, at which the Mark-led management emerged.

The courtroom held that the method failed to fulfill the requirement for democratic elections beneath Section 82(3) of the Electoral Act 2022 and breached provisions of the celebration’s structure and the 1999 Constitution. It rejected a resignation letter purportedly written by Gombe that the Mark faction had relied on, discovering materials variations in signatures that rendered the doc unreliable.

While recognising Gombe as the one elected National Working Committee member whose four-year tenure remained legitimate, the decide declined to robotically make him substantive National Chairman.The ruling has created uncertainty over the ADC’s management and its candidates for the 2027 elections, notably Atiku, who emerged because the celebration’s presidential candidate and later chosen former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his working mate.

It got here regardless of an earlier July 2, 2026 judgment by Justice Musa Liman of the identical courtroom that the Mark-led faction had relied on.Atiku rejected the November 5 determination, describing it as an try to weaken the opposition and frustrate his presidential bid. He vowed to problem it on the Court of Appeal and insisted it could not halt his marketing campaign.

The ADC, by way of National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi, additionally dismissed the judgment as politically motivated and warned that its implications may prolong past Atiku and the nationwide management to hundreds of candidates. The celebration has filed an attraction and an utility for a keep of execution, urging INEC to not take any prejudicial steps.INEC has mentioned it would examine the licensed true copy of the judgment and search authorized recommendation earlier than deciding its subsequent motion, sustaining it is not going to take a place with out inspecting the courtroom’s orders.

The dispute continues to deepen the ADC’s inner disaster because the celebration prepares for the 2027 common elections, with competing factions holding opposing views on the validity of the Mark-led management and the candidates produced beneath it.

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