The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said it is prepared for a long legal battle in its ongoing court cases over the party’s leadership dispute.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
Abdullahi was reacting to Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling, which he described as a victory for the party.
The ADC spokesperson said the party would celebrate its legal victory but would not lose focus, noting that the matter was far from over.
He said, “When you are fighting a war, you can celebrate a battle. When you win a battle, you celebrate it well; that does not mean that the war is over. We are cautious that this is going to be a long war, but we are ready for it, and we have demonstrated that we are capable of fighting this war, and that is what has led us to this point.
“This particular battle, yesterday we won that, and we are not going to allow anybody to minimise the significance of what we have achieved. We want our members to enjoy that victory of that particular battle, but the war is still on, and we are not going to lose focus that it is a marathon, so we are going to keep fighting.”
Abdullahi said the ADC accepted the rulings of the Supreme Court and was ready to return to the Federal High Court as directed by the apex court.
He commended the justices for what he described as the thoroughness of their submissions.
“Anyone who sat through the proceedings and listened to the justices’ submissions would acknowledge the thoroughness of their work,” he said.
He added that the party remained confident about its case at the Federal High Court.
Bolaji stated, “In the case that let’s go back to the high court, we are very confident that we have a very clear case, and the issue is about leadership. It is very clear and established that everything that has to do with the leadership of a political party is not justiciable.”
The ADC chieftain said the party had confidence in the legal system but would continue to pursue all lawful avenues where it believed it had been treated unfairly.
He said, “Where we find that we have been treated unfairly in accordance with the law, we are going to explore opportunities to seek redress, and we will continue to do so like we have in this case up to the highest court of the land. That is why the laws are there.
“If in court a judge rules against us and we are not happy, we go to the next level until God says it is okay because after the Supreme Court, there is no next level.”
