Supreme Court Reserves Verdict In ADC Leadership Dispute

The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in the ongoing leadership dispute within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), following arguments from parties involved in the case. A five-member panel led by Justice Garba Mohammed announced this after lawyers representing both sides adopted their written submissions for and against the appeal.

At the centre of the case is an appeal filed by the ADC National Chairman, David Mark, challenging the court’s authority to intervene in the party’s internal matters. His counsel, Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), urged the apex court to uphold the appeal, referencing a previous ruling which stated that “no court has jurisdiction to entertain cases bordering on internal affairs of political parties”. He argued that the trial court lacked the legal standing to hear the matter.

However, counsel to Nafiu Gombe, Robert Emukpero (SAN), asked the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the earlier judgment, which ruled that Mark’s case was premature. The Court of Appeal had previously thrown out Mark’s challenge, stating it was filed without proper leave and ordered that the case return to the lower court for accelerated hearing, while parties maintain the status quo ante bellum.

Following that directive, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) withdrew recognition of the Mark-led leadership pending the court’s final decision on the party’s authentic leadership. Dissatisfied with the appellate court’s ruling, Mark approached the Supreme Court to contest both the decision and the order maintaining the status quo.

After hearing arguments from all parties, Justice Garba Mohammed stated that the court would communicate a date for delivering its final judgment.