Court judgement: ADC, Atiku take contemporary steps

Justice Peter Odo Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified all of the processes of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) that led to the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar because the occasion’s candidate for the 2027 election.

In a judgment delivered Thursday, the decide additionally nullified the emergence of the previous Senate President David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola and others as ADC nationwide officers.

By implication, all candidates nominated for the 2027 common elections even have their nominations cancelled on account of rising from unlawful and illegal management of ADC.

Justice Lifu upheld the case of Nafiu Bala Gombe, a deputy nationwide chairman (North east) of the ADC that each Mark and Aregbesola emerged leaders of the occasion in an illegal and unlawful means.

The decide held that each one actions taken by Mark management within the title of ADC are illegal and nullified.

Blueprint studies that Gombe’s grouse was predicated on the declare that the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola and others as nationwide leaders of the occasion violated the provisions of the ADC structure in addition to the Electoral Act guiding how political events’ management would emerge by means of National Conventions, as towards the alleged hijack by the present leaders of the occasion.

Mark, Aregbesola, ADC and others had filed a complete of 27 separate motions attacking the case of Gombe and prayed for its dismissal on the preliminary stage, however had been thrown out by the Judge for being frivolous and baseless.

Specifically, a number of members of the ADC National Working Committee (NWC) filed separate motions the place they prayed to be joined as defendants within the go well with however their request was rejected

The Judge rejected their bids on the bottom that their curiosity could be determined within the determination on  Mark and Aregbesola, who had been sued because the nationwide chairman and nationwide secretary of the ADC together with the NWC.

Judgment justification, implication

By advantage of the pronouncements, all of the candidates nominated for the 2027 common elections by the ADC-led Mark even have their nominations cancelled on account of rising from unlawful and illegal management.

Justice Lifu in his verdicts upheld the Gombe’s prayers that Mark and Aregbesola emerged leaders of the occasion in an illegal and unlawful means.

 Gombe had instituted a authorized go well with towards the ADC looking for an order restraining Mark, Aregbesola and others from parading themselves as leaders of the occasion.

The plaintiff sued the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the occasion’s former nationwide chairman, Ralph Nwosu, as first to fifth defendants, respectively.

Commending the ruling, Gombe’s counsel, Lukman Fagbemi. SAN, stated the implications of the ruling is that each one actions taken by the Mark-led management since approaching board  and directed the INEC to not act on selections taken on the occasion’s 99th National Executive Committee(NEC) assembly.

“The implication of what we’ve gotten at this time is that the courtroom, having reviewed your entire info of the case, having reviewed the clear place of the legislation, occasion’s tips, occasion’s structure, provisions of the Electoral Act and the related provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, finds as a proven fact that they didn’t emerge by means of lawful constitutional means and that there have been flagrant breaches of all of the related provisions that we’ve said.

“The implication is that INEC, which has the responsibility to make sure that occurs in step with Section 223 of the Constitution, has now been ordered to not recognise and to not act on all the selections taken on the 99th NEC assembly of the occasion on July 27, 2025.

“All the actions taken by the ADC as a party since July 27 to date stand annulled,” Fagbemi stated.

In one other response, Luka Musa Haruna, SAN, additionally Gombe’s counsel, stated, “You will recall that the interlocutory side of this matter went as much as the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court stated we must always come again to the trial courtroom in order that the substantive difficulty could be decided.

“Today, the substantive difficulty has been decided, and all actions taken by the David Mark-led management of the ADC have been declared null and void.

“As it stands today, the ADC has no candidate from the presidential level to the House of Assembly, governorship, Senate and all other elective positions for the 2027 election. They don’t have any representation as it stands today, except you are from the camp of Nafiu Bala, who is the substantive chairman of the ADC.”

…ADC alleges sabotage

But the occasion, in an announcement Thursday in Abuja, described the event as one other determined try and cripple the opposition and deny Nigerians the fitting to decide on their leaders within the forthcoming common elections.

The assertion signed by the ADC spokesman, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi,  stated the timing of the judgment, barely 24 hours after the huge turnout on the ADC presidential marketing campaign rally in Sokoto, exposes what it known as the rising desperation of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“We have reasons to believe that the judgment had long been written on this case. The Sokoto rally was simply a trigger that stampeded its delivery. Yesterday, Nigerians came out in their hundreds of thousands to demonstrate their support for the ADC and our promise of making life affordable for them. Today, they are being told that the party that they support and the candidates that they have supported at all levels could be erased by the stroke of a reckless judicial pen,” he stated.

“Do these people understand what they are playing with? This is not about Atiku Abubakar or David Mark. It is about the democratic rights of Nigerians to freely choose their own leaders. It is about the rights of thousands of candidates to participate in a democratic process,” the assertion added.

Describing the judgment as legally indefensible, Abdullahi stated: “Our objection is especially anchored on the subsisting judgment of Justice Musa Liman of the identical Federal High Court, delivered on 2 July 2026 in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, which affirmed the legitimacy of the David Mark-led NWC and directed INEC to recognise the management. It is a settled precept of Nigerian jurisprudence {that a} courtroom of coordinate jurisdiction can not sit on enchantment over, assessment, differ or nullify the subsisting judgment of one other courtroom of equal jurisdiction.

“The ADC, due to this fact, rejects any consequential orders based on a willpower that seems to ignore these elementary authorized rules. However, we await the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the stated judgment to establish its exact phrases, scope and operative orders.

“We have seen this script before. When they are scared that the opposition is gathering steam, they use their judges in the courts to influence legally indefensible judgments. But the millions of Nigerians that are hungry and waiting for them at the ballot box see right through them and will not sit down in silence while our democracy is taken away by the courts.”

“We warn the APC: don’t play with fires you can not management. The peace and stability of Nigeria are greater than the ambition of any president or political occasion. Nobody ought to be so determined to retain energy that they’re ready to place your entire nation in danger. This just isn’t the time to play foolish video games with the soundness of this nation.

“Nigeria belongs to Nigerians, not to the APC. The presidency is not an inheritance. If the President thinks he has performed well in office, why is he afraid of competition? If the APC thinks that its policies and candidates are popular, why don’t they subject themselves to free and fair elections?” the occasion additional said.

Atiku vows to enchantment judgment

Also reacting to the decision, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar vowed to problem Thursday’s Federal High Court judgment nullifying the management of the African Democratic Congress led by former Senate President David Mark on the Court of Appeal.

Atiku described the judgment as an try and weaken the opposition occasion and frustrate his presidential ambition forward of the 2027 common elections.

His place was contained in an announcement issued, Thursday by the Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, titled ‘The Panic Is Real — Atiku’.

The former vice-president questioned the timing of the judgment, which got here barely a day after a big crowd attended the ADC marketing campaign rally in Sokoto state.

“The individuals of Sokoto got here out of their 1000’s as a result of they’re hungry for change and consider in our promise to make life reasonably priced once more.

“What we witnessed in Sokoto is just the start. The individuals of Kebbi can have their say, and so will Nigerians throughout the nation as our marketing campaign strikes ahead.

On the authorized dispute, Atiku cited an earlier judgment by Justice Musa Liman of the Federal High Court, Abuja, delivered on July 2, 2026, in go well with quantity FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025.

“Justice Musa Liman of the identical Federal High Court had already dismissed the problem to the David Mark-led management in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025. The courtroom upheld the defendants’ objections on jurisdiction, standing and the failure to exhaust inside occasion treatments, and resolved the substantive points of their favour.

“Why, after that judgment, was another case filed to reopen the same dispute? This is a calculated attempt to circumvent a subsisting judgment. We will challenge this judicial manoeuvre at the Court of Appeal,” he added.