The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday reserved judgment in an appeal filed by former Senate President, David Mark, over the protracted leadership crisis rocking the African Democratic Congress.
A five-member panel of the court, led by Justice Lawal Garba, fixed judgment for a later date after parties in the suit adopted their briefs of argument.
Mark, who is laying claim to the national chairmanship of the party, is challenging the judgment of the Court of Appeal which dismissed his earlier appeal in the dispute between his faction and that of Nafiu Bala.
The appellant had also urged the apex court to grant a stay of execution of the appellate court’s March 12 ruling, which upheld objections raised by Bala and declared his appeal incompetent.
The appellate court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, held that the issues brought before it were not rooted in the decision of the trial court and consequently struck out the appeal.
The dispute can be traced to a September 4, 2025 ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite, which refused to grant injunctive reliefs sought in an ex parte application filed by Bala.
PLATFORM TIMES reports that the lingering crisis, which began as an internal transition disagreement in mid-2025, has since paralysed the party’s leadership structure and deepened factional divisions.
The situation took a dramatic turn on April 1 when the Independent National Electoral Commission declined recognition of both factions, citing a subsisting Court of Appeal order directing parties to maintain the status quo.
INEC said it would not transact with any faction of the party pending the final determination of the matter by the courts—a decision political observers say could undermine the party’s preparedness for the 2027 general elections.
While the Mark-led faction insists it emerged through due process backed by National Executive Committee resolutions and provisions of the party’s constitution, the Bala camp has continued to challenge the legitimacy of those claims in court.
With judgment now reserved by the Supreme Court, the fate of the party’s leadership—and its viability as an opposition platform—hangs in the balance.
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