Court Issues New Ruling On ADC Leadership Conflict

The lawsuit against the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) under former Senate President David Mark was postponed indefinitely by the Federal High Court in Abuja after the plaintiff asked for the case to be moved to a different judge.

After Luka Musa Haruna, the plaintiff’s attorney, informed the court that a letter had been sent to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court requesting a reassignment of the case, Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the suit with the number FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025.

Haruna claims that the letter asking for the transfer was sent on May 4, 2026.

The plaintiff’s attorney also told the court prior to the adjournment that David Mark’s interlocutory appeal against the proceedings had been denied by the Supreme Court on April 30.

The application for transfer was strongly opposed by lawyers representing the defendants.

Counsel to the second defendant, Sulaiman Usman, described the move as “forum shopping and judge shopping.”

Also reacting, counsel to the fifth defendant, P.I. Oyewole, accused the plaintiff of attempting to invite the Chief Judge to “indulge in judicial rascality.”

He continued by saying that the Court of Appeal’s previous ruling that had halted the substantive suit’s proceedings had also been overturned by the Supreme Court.

Justice Nwite stated in his decision that the court could not consider the transfer request without first hearing from all parties, pointing out that doing so might violate the defendants’ fundamental rights.

In order to give the parties time to file the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court ruling and make sure the defendants received the transfer request letter, the judge then postponed the case sine die.

Additionally, the court stated that it would wait for any orders regarding the reassignment request from the Chief Judge.