The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned judgment in a suit seeking the removal of Senator David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as Chairman and Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), respectively, to Tuesday, April 14, 2026.

The judgment in the suit, filed by a member of the House of Representatives from Kogi State, Hon. Leke Abejide, was initially scheduled for Monday, April 13. However, the trial judge, Justice Musa Liman, postponed it by 24 hours due to other pressing official engagements.

A court registrar announced the adjournment on Monday to journalists and politicians who had gathered early for the ruling.

Following the announcement, most of the politicians—mainly from the camps of the lawmaker and the David Mark-led leadership—left the courtroom.

It will be recalled that the judge had last Friday fixed April 13 for the delivery of judgment after Abejide’s counsel, Ibrahim Idris (SAN), and counsel to the defence adopted their written addresses for and against the suit.

Abejide, a member of the House of Representatives on the platform of the ADC, filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025 through his lawyer on February 15, listing the ADC, Ralph Nwosu, David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the 1st to 5th defendants, respectively.

Nwosu, the former National Chairman of the ADC, had stepped down for Mark, the former Senate President, to assume the leadership of the party.

Among the eight reliefs sought, Abejide is asking the court to nullify Nwosu’s handover of the ADC leadership to Mark and Aregbesola as interim National Chairman and interim National Secretary, respectively, on July 2, 2025, at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre in Abuja, on the grounds that it was illegal, unlawful, null, and void.

He is also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as leaders of the party, arguing that their purported appointment, selection, or election was unlawful, illegal, null, and void.

Additionally, he is asking for a perpetual injunction restraining INEC from recognising Mark and Aregbesola as the party’s interim National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively, on the basis that their emergence did not comply with the requirements of Section 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022, among other reliefs.

However, the ADC, represented by Shaibu Aruwa (SAN); Nwosu, represented by P. I. Oyewole; Rilwan Okpanachi, who appeared for Mark; Aregbesola’s counsel, I. R. Abdullahi; and counsel for INEC, Anthony Onyeri, all urged the court to dismiss the suit for lacking merit.

The ADC, Nwosu, Mark, and Aregbesola, in their arguments, contended that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit.

In their separate preliminary objections, they argued that the subject matter concerns the internal affairs of a political party, which is non-justiciable, and that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain such matters.

They further stated that, contrary to Abejide’s claim, the Mark-led leadership was elected on July 29, 2025, at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, and not on July 2, 2025.

The defendants also argued that Abejide failed to disclose any reasonable cause of action and urged the court to dismiss the suit with substantial costs in line with Section 83(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, describing the matter as academic.

Leaders and members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) joined a large demonstration in Abuja on Wednesday, protesting decisions by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which they said undermine democracy and the party’s internal leadership.

The protest, tagged #OccupyINEC, drew former presidential candidates and prominent politicians, including Rotimi Amaechi, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Rauf Aregbesola, Aminu Tambuwal, and Dino Melaye, to the Maitama Roundabout. Hundreds of Kwankwasiyya members also participated.

The demonstration saw participants singing Nigeria’s former national anthem, “Arise, O Compatriots!”, despite the fact that it was replaced on May 29, 2024, by President Bola Tinubu with the country’s 1960 independence anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee.”

The ADC further confirmed that the act was carried out “in an act of defiance.”

Several demonstrators also held placards supporting Senator David Mark, including ones that read, “In David Mark’s NWC we trust.”

Addressing the protest, former presidential candidate Peter Obi spoke on behalf of ADC members and other opposition leaders, urging Nigerians to defend the country’s democracy.

He wrote on X: “We, members and leaders of the ADC, and other well-meaning Nigerians and lovers of democracy, are saying that our democracy must not be killed.

“We say NO to a one-party system, and for that, today we are calling on Nigerians who believe in unity, peace, and security of our country to join us as we defend democracy in our land.”

The protest follows INEC’s recent decision to no longer accept correspondence from either faction of the ADC led by Senator David Mark or Nafiu Bala, after a Court of Appeal judgment on the party’s leadership dispute. The ADC and other opposition groups described the move as a restriction on party autonomy and interference in internal party affairs.

The National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Yunusa Tanko, had earlier told journalists that the demonstration aimed to mobilise Nigerians in defence of democracy.

“This commission is now becoming the arbiter, judge, accuser, and defender at the same time. Our major issue is the manner in which INEC has been creating disaffection within the opposition.

“The people are really angry and plan to show this anger by coming out. So, we expect them to come out en masse for a peaceful rally. We will simply demonstrate and protest,” he said.

A fresh wave of defections in the House of Representatives has given the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the All Progressives Congress (APC), and other parties more members as politicians intensify realignments ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, read the notices of defection during plenary on Tuesday.

Twenty-seven lawmakers defected in what is one of the major political realignments in the Green Chamber, just less than one year before Nigerians head to the polls to elect their next set of leaders.

Fourteen of the defectors came into the APC. The eight lawmakers who joined the ADC were made up of five reps from the PDP,  two from the Labour Party (LP), and one from the APC.

Meanwhile, the Action Peoples Party (APP) got two lawmakers, one each from the PDP and LP. It was a similar story with the Accord Party, with two new House of Representatives members from the PDP joining the party, which now rules Osun State.

The lawmakers said their defections were due to an internal crisis in their former parties.

House of Reps Defectors

Below is a list of the lawmakers, the parties they defected from, and where they are headed: