Chief Justice Reassigns ADC Leadership Case – THISAGE

By Victor Osula, Abuja

The leadership crisis rocking the African Democratic Congress (ADC) took a new turn on Friday when the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, reassigned the case challenging the party’s leadership structure to another judge following the elevation of Justice Emeka Nwite to the Court of Appeal.

The case, dismissed by former ADC National Vice President, Nafiu-Bala Gombe, has now been transferred to Justice Peter Lifu for continuation of proceedings after Justice Nwite was among the judges recently recommended by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for appointment to the Court of Appeal.

The NJC, in its 111th meeting held on May 13, recommended 12 judges, including Justice Nwite, to President Bola Tinubu for elevation to the Court of Appeal.

Gombe had initiated the suit seeking an order restraining former Senate President, Senator David Mark, former Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and members of the party’s Interim National Working Committee (NWC) from parading as leaders of the ADC. He argued that the emergence of Mark as national president and Aregbesola as national secretary violated the provisions of the ADC constitution and the electoral law.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, Gombe listed the ADC, David Mark, Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the former national chairman of the ADC, Chief Ralph Nwosu, as the first to fifth defendants respectively.

Nwosu had resigned from office to pave the way for the emergence of the leadership structure led by Mark within the opposition party.

The matter was previously adjourned indefinitely on April 14 by Justice Nwite following a request by Gombe to await the outcome of the proceedings in the Supreme Court.

However, on April 30, the Supreme Court quashed the Court of Appeal order directing the parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum in the ADC leadership dispute – a development on which INEC allegedly acted in disavowal of the leadership led by Mark.

The Supreme Court subsequently ordered the parties to return to the Federal High Court for an expedited hearing of the substantive case.

When the matter resumed on May 8, Gombe’s lawyer, Luka Haruna, SAN, requested that the case be transferred from Justice Nwite to another judge, revealing that a formal letter had already been written to the Chief Justice to this effect.

While no reason has been publicly put forward for the transfer request, the request has drawn stiff opposition from lawyers representing the ADC leadership.

Adviser to the ADC, Rilwan Okpanachi; legal counsel to David Mark, Suleiman Usman, SAN; Mohammed Sheriff, who represented Aregbesola; and PI Oyewole, lawyer for Ralph Nwosu, all opposed the request, describing it as “an ambush”.

The defenders argued that the request constituted “forum shopping” and an attempt to defeat the expedited hearing directive already issued by the Court of Appeal and confirmed by the Supreme Court.

They maintained that they had absolute confidence in Judge Nwite’s integrity, impartiality and sound judicial discretion, insisting that no development in the proceedings justified the request for transfer.

According to the lawyers, the letter allegedly written to the chief judge without notifying the parties involved was a violation of due process.

“The so-called letter constitutes, according to a normal perspective, a fundamental procedural flaw, which legally constitutes an illegitimacy and not a mere irregularity”, argued the defender.

Despite their objections, the lawyers informed the court that a substantive hearing could not proceed because the certified copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court judgment had not yet been obtained.

Justice Nwite subsequently adjourned the matter indefinitely pending the production of the apex court judgment before any reassignment of the case to Justice Lifu.

The development comes amid heightened political activity within the ADC following the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate on May 27, after defeating two other aspirants.

Atiku emerged winner of the ADC presidential primary election after polling 1,846,370 votes to defeat Amaechi, who secured 504,117 votes, while economist Mohammed Hayatu-Deen garnered 177,120 votes.

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