UPDATED: Appeal Court bars INEC from recognising Mark-led ADC state congresses

•ADC appeals ruling, says it’s legally unsustainable •Verdict doesn’t affect our primaries —Party •Court didn’t nullify our primaries —Atiku

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division on Monday, affirmed the judgment of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja which restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or participating in any state congresses organised by committees appointed by the Senator David Mark-led caretaker leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

A three-member panel of justices of the appellate court, in a split decision of two-to-one, upheld the restraining order issued against the Sen. David Mark-led caretaker committee of the ADC by the trial court judge, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik in her judgment delivered on April 29, 2006.

It further upheld the order of the trial judge, which restrained the Mark-led executives from interfering with the tenure and functions of the party’s elected state executives.

The appellate court, in the majority judgment, delivered by Justice Okon Abang, held that the responsibility for conducting state congresses of political parties rests with elected state executive committees, not with the national leadership.

Justice Abang held that the appellant breached Section 223(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by non compliance with the Constitution in the conduct of its affairs, giving the trial court the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

The majority judgment further dismissed the complaints of the appellant that the subject matter of the suit was an internal affair of the party.

He said that the suspended state chairmen and the appointment of the caretaker committee by the ADC for the conduct of national convention was unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void.

The court held that the party violated its own constitution by appointing caretaker committee when the tenure of the state chairmen of the party subsists, adding that the court will cease to entertain cases when political parties continue to violate its own constitution and that of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

While Justices Abang and Donatus Okorowo gave the majority judgment barring INEC from acknowledging the outcome of congresses held by the Mark-led leadership of the ADC, the presiding Justice of the three-member panel, Justice Abba Mohammed, gave a dissenting judgment.

In his minority decision, Justice Mohammed held that the case that led to the restraining order bordered on a non-justiciable internal affair of a political party, adding that the trial court was wrong to have assumed jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

Justice Mohammed said he found it difficult to agree with Justices Abang and Okorowo that the trial court has the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

Appeal Court ruling: No change to our leadership, ADC assures members

He described both the majority decision and the judgment of the trial court as perversed and maintained that the dispute before the trial court was an internal affair of the party, which is not justiciable.

Justice Mohammed held that the actions of the 1st to 7th respondents in the appeal is premature as they failed to exhaust the internal dispute resolution of the party before filing the suit and added that the trial court was wrong to have assumed jurisdiction.

He said, “Any judgment entered by a court without jurisdiction is a nullity. Accordingly, the Federal High Court judgment delivered on April 29 is hereby set aside for want of jurisdiction. The appeal is meritorious and allowed.”

It would be recalled that the trial Court had, in its judgment, held that the four-year tenure of the ADC’s State Working Committees and State Executive Committees remained valid and subsisting, pending the conduct of properly constituted congresses and the convocation of a national convention.

The judgment followed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/581/2026, lodged before the court by aggrieved members of the ADC.

ADC appeals ruling, says it’s legally unsustainable

The ADC has assured members of the party and the general public that the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday has no effect whatsoever on the direct primaries through which the party’s candidates have emerged at all levels.

Reacting to the development, the ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party noted the judgment in a matter relating to party congresses for the election of ward, local government and state executive committees of the party.

Abdullahi said the party had already “commenced the process of appealing the judgment, which we respectfully disagree with and consider to be legally unsustainable”.

He also noted the dissenting judgment of the presiding Justice, which, he said, “in our view, more accurately reflects the settled position of the law and the Party’s position.”

The ADC urged all party members and the millions of their supporters to remain calm, confident and focused.

The party said it remained committed to the task of providing Nigerians with a credible alternative and would continue to pursue that mission in accordance with the Constitution and the rule of law.

Court didn’t nullify our primaries – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that contrary to the misleading narratives being aggressively circulated in some quarters, the Court of Appeal did not invalidate the ADC primary elections conducted for the nomination of candidates for the 2027 general elections.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the ADC presidential candidate urged party members and millions of Nigerians yearning for genuine democratic change to remain calm, resolute and focused.

Atiku described the attempts to portray the judgment as the end of the ADC’s presidential ticket as nothing more than another chapter in the ongoing campaign of misinformation designed to demoralise the opposition and confuse Nigerians.

He said the road to 2027 remained open and the resolve of the Nigerian people could not be overturned by propaganda.

The statement said: “Those celebrating today should celebrate with caution. Those attempting to sell false hope to their supporters should remember that political propaganda can never substitute for judicial pronouncements.

“The judgment being celebrated relates to the conduct of state congresses and the tenure of State Executive Committees. It does not, from the facts available, amount to a judicial nullification of the ADC’s primary elections conducted under the Electoral Act.”