Supreme Court Reserves Judgment in ADC Leadership Legal Battle Involving David Mark

Alfred Williams أبريل 22, 2026 0

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 The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in a high-profile case involving the leadership crisis of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), where party chairman David Mark is challenging court intervention in the party’s internal affairs.

David Mark, the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), filed an appeal contesting the court's authority to get involved in the party's internal affairs. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court postponed making a decision.

Shortly after attorneys for the parties adopted their papers of argument for and against the appeal, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, presided over by Justice Garba Mohammed, reserved its decision.

David Mark's attorney, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, argued that the Supreme Court's ruling on March 21, 2025, which stated that "no court has jurisdiction to entertain cases bordering on internal affairs of political parties," ended the matter at hand.

As a result, Okutepa pleaded with the Supreme Court to grant the appeal and rule that the Abuja Federal High Court lacked the authority to consider a lawsuit that touched on ADC internal affairs.

However, Robert Emukpero, SAN, who represented Nafiu Gombe, the first respondent, urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the lower court's decision that the appellant's petition was premature.

Recall that a three-person panel of the appellate court rejected Mark's appeal, contesting the Abuja Federal High Court's authority to consider Bala's lawsuit against the ADC's leadership under Justice Emeka Nwite.

In its ruling, the appellate court concluded that the appeal was both premature and filed without the trial court's consent.

The appellate court then mandated that the parties maintain the status quo and that the case be returned to the trial court for a prompt hearing.

The electoral umpire then de-recognized the ADC leadership led by Mark after the status quo order was issued, pending the court's decision.

Unsatisfied, Mark went to the Supreme Court to contest the appeal court's decision for a stay of the status quo order.

The supreme court instructed parties to submit their arguments for and against the appeal instead of accepting the motions submitted in the case.

Following the parties' arguments, Justice Garba declared that the verdict would be reserved until a later date that would be announced to the parties.

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