The Supreme Court of Nigeria has scheduled April 22, 2026, for the final hearing of the leadership dispute within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), granting an accelerated ruling process. The decision follows an urgent application by the faction led by former Senate President David Mark, which seeks to reverse lower court judgments that removed him and other leaders from the party's official structure. The Court of Appeal had previously directed parties to maintain the "status quo," prompting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist Mark as national chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as national secretary on April 1. INEC's action was based on the appellate court's order pending resolution of the legal battle.
A five-member Supreme Court panel, led by Justice Lawal Garba, aligned the ADC's case with the timeline of a similar dispute in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The ADC crisis intensified after high-profile political figures, including Atiku Abubakar and Rauf Aregbesola, joined the party from the APC and PDP, triggering a power struggle with a faction led by Nafiu Bala, who asserts authority under the party's original constitution. Mark's legal team, headed by Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), submitted an "affidavit of extreme urgency," warning of leadership vacuum at a crucial point in the electoral cycle. The apex court has given the Mark faction 24 hours to file its briefs, with respondents allowed three days to respond. A separate Federal High Court ruling in Abuja is also pending.
David Mark's race to reclaim control of the ADC through the Supreme Court reveals less about party democracy and more about the fragility of political vehicles built around personality rather than structure. The fact that a former Senate President, alongside other heavyweights, must rely on an affidavit of "extreme urgency" to regain positions they assumed through political muscle underscores the instability of coalition politics in Nigeria's current climate. Their swift ouster by INEC, acting on a Court of Appeal ruling, shows that institutional processes can still disrupt even the most well-connected political maneuvers.
This crisis did not emerge in a vacuum. The ADC, once a marginal party, became a magnet for defectors after the 2023 election, not because of its platform, but because of its availability as a vessel for electoral ambition. The clash between the Mark-led newcomers and Nafiu Bala's old guard reflects a deeper tension: can a party's original membership resist takeover by powerful outsiders? The April 1 delisting of Mark and Aregbesola was not just administrative—it was symbolic of the limits of political parachuting, even when backed by elite consensus.
Ordinary ADC members and grassroots supporters now face uncertainty. Without recognized leadership, access to campaign funding, INEC accreditation, and ballot access is frozen. Aspirants within the party who lack national profiles are the most affected, sidelined in a battle dominated by legal filings and high-profile names. The April 22, 2026 hearing date, while distant, may determine whether the ADC survives as a viable opposition platform or dissolves into irrelevance.
This case mirrors broader patterns across Nigerian parties, where internal democracy is often sacrificed at the altar of elite ambition. From PDP to APC, and now ADC, the script repeats: power shifts not through convention but through courts and defections. The judiciary's role as final arbiter, while constitutionally sound, continues to shape political outcomes more than primaries or party members ever do.
💡 NaijaBuzz is a news aggregator. This content is curated and editorially enhanced from third-party sources. The NaijaBuzz Take represents editorial opinion and analysis, not established fact.
