New crisis as ADC asks court to stop Ireti Kingibe as member

A fresh crisis has erupted at the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where the party has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to ban Senator Ireti Kingibe from parading as its member.

The ADC’s Wuse ward and the senator’s ward initiated the suit seeking an order restraining Ireti Kingibe from parading as a member of the party.

The move came 48 hours after the senator was suspended indefinitely by the party’s Wuse ward executive committee

In an original writ filed by the ADC’s lawyer, Maxwell Opara, the party asked the court to declare that the Wuse Ward Executive Committee has the constitutional authority to discipline and suspend members within its jurisdiction.

The ADC is also asking the court to affirm that the suspension of Kingibe, who represents the FCT in the National Assembly, remains valid and subsisting.

The plaintiffs in the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/539/2026, are Okezuo Godfrey Kanayo, the ADC Chairman in Wuse Ward and Isaiah Ojonugwa Samuel, the District Secretary.

They filed the lawsuit on behalf of themselves and the Wuse Ward executive committee.

Among the measures sought is a declaration that Kingibe cannot lawfully present himself as a member or card-carrying member of the ADC while the suspension remains in place.

The applicants also asked the court to declare that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ADC should not recognize Kingibe as a member of the party at any level during the period of his suspension.

The suit also asks the court to validate the Wuse Ward executive committee’s decision to suspend the senator.

According to court documents, the action was brought under sections 6(6)(B) and 251 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), as well as Article 16 of the ADC Constitution and Order 3, Rules 6 and 7 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019.

The appellants also relied on the inherent jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in seeking judicial interpretation and application of the party’s constitutional provisions.

Among others, they asked the court to determine whether, having regard to the Constitution of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Wuse Ward Executive Committee possesses the power to discipline and suspend a member of the party.

Following the affirmative resolution of the issues, the appellants sought a declaration that by virtue of the Constitution of the African Democratic Congress, the Wuse Ward Executive Committee possesses the power to discipline and suspend members of the party within its jurisdiction.

That the suspension of the accused, Senator Ireti Kingibe, by the Wuse Ward Executive Committee of the ADC is valid and subsisting and that the accused cannot lawfully parade and should not parade as a member or card-carrying member of the African Democratic Congress during the subsistence of the said suspension.

That the National Working Committee of the ADC cannot and must not legitimately recognize the Respondent as a member of the party at any level during the period of existence of her suspension.

The plaintiffs sought an order affirming and validating the suspension of the defendant by the executive committee of the plaintiff’s Wuse Ward.

They also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondent from presenting herself as a member of the ADC pending the determination of her disciplinary status within the party.

A date for the hearing of the case has not yet been set.