Group condemns Lifu judgment on ADC

…describes ruling as judicial ambush against democracy

A sociopolitical movement, The Reformers, has condemned the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which nullified the David Mark-led leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), describing it as a “judicial ambush against democracy” that cannot survive appeal.

In a statement signed by the spokesperson of the movement, Hon. Muhammed Emiabata, on behalf of the coordinating council and made available to newsmen, the group, comprising middle-class elites in Lagos, said every well-meaning Nigerian must stand to defend the nation’s democracy and rescue it from the hands of those it described as ‘democracy bandits’.

“What we are doing as Nigerians is defending democracy, and that, in this instance, defending democracy means standing with ADC against undemocratic forces that want to truncate our democracy,” the movement said.

The Reformers said the judgment delivered on Thursday, November 5, 2026, by Justice Peter Lifu, which sacked the Mark-led caretaker committee and nullified actions taken under it, rested on a contradiction that Nigerians must not ignore.

According to the group, on May 17, 2025, the ADC National Working Committee, led by former National Chairman, Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu, voluntarily resigned alongside Nafiu Bala Gombe and others to make way for a caretaker committee to reposition the party ahead of the 2027 elections.

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It said the move was a collective decision with one purpose.

“It was one collective decision. One event. One purpose,” the statement said.

“Yet the judgment says Chief Nwosu’s resignation is valid, so a vacancy was created, but Nafiu Bala Gombe’s resignation from the same meeting, on the same day, for the same purpose, is invalid, so he is still Deputy National Chairman. How?” it queried.

The group argued that if all the resignations were valid, there would be no deputy to succeed anybody, while if all were invalid, there would be no vacancy for anyone to fill.

“You cannot have it both ways. A judgment that has it both ways is not justice. It is ambush, and very unfortunate,” The Reformers said.

The movement invoked the elementary legal principle, volenti non fit injuria, which it interpreted to mean “no injury is done to a man who consents”, arguing that Gombe voluntarily resigned and consented to the caretaker arrangement.

“Just like Ralph Nwosu and others, he resigned voluntarily. He cannot consent to a caretaker for reason of coalition arrangements, watch his resignation transmitted to INEC, watch the caretaker inaugurated, and then after consultation with extraneous forces outside the party, now turn back and ask a court to destroy everything because he has changed his mind.

“That is not a legal right. That is opportunism dressed as law,” the statement said.

The Reformers further argued that Gombe could not sue as Deputy National Chairman after resigning from the position, noting that a man could not claim the office when it suited him and present himself as an ordinary member when it did not.

“You cannot confer an office on a man who threw it away. That is building something on nothing,” the group said.

The group commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for opposing Gombe’s presentation in court and standing by the party’s records.

“INEC, the independent Umpire, the keeper of party records, told the court: ‘We do not recognise this man as leader of ADC. His resignation was communicated to us. We acted on it,'” the movement said.

“When the regulator says no, when the party says no, when the record says no, and only one man says yes – who is the court to say yes for him? A judgment that overrules INEC, the party, and the record, to install one man, is not protecting democracy. It is deliberately weakening it,” it added.

The group warned that if the judgment was allowed to stand, no political party in Nigeria would be safe, including during general elections.

It added: “Someone will just wake up and say INEC did not do something right and a judge will be available to annul the general election as a result.”

“This trend must be reversed without delay.

“Today it is ADC. Tomorrow it could be any other party.

“Anybody can resign, wait, watch, and then run to court to nullify an entire election cycle. That is not rule of law. That is rule by ambush. Democracy dies when courts, not party members, decide who leads political parties,” the group said.

The Reformers called on the Court of Appeal to correct what they described as a contradiction in the judgment. They also urged ADC members to remain calm, united and focused on the appeal rather than resort to self-help.

“We believe in Nigeria. We believe in democracy. We believe that in the end, justice will prevail over ambush. And our democracy will survive and succeed.” The Reformers said.