The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of former Senate President David Mark as National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress>, dismissing a legal challenge filed by House of Representatives member Leke Abejide. The ADC leadership judgment was delivered on Thursday by Justice Musa Liman, who ruled that the suit lacked merit and that the court had no jurisdiction to interfere in the internal affairs of the political party.

Justice Liman upheld the preliminary objections filed by the ADC, former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu, David Mark and former Osun State Governor; Rauf Aregbesola>

The judge held that the matter was non-justiciable because it concerned the internal administration of the party. He also ruled that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the action, having failed to demonstrate that his rights had been violated by the emergence of the current leadership. According to the court, the lawmaker equally failed to exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before approaching the court.

In resolving the substantive issues, the court ruled in favour of all the defendants. Justice Liman held that Ralph Nwosu’s transfer of leadership to David Mark did not violate the provisions of the ADC constitution. The court further found that the stakeholder meeting held on July 2, 2025, preceded the party’s National Executive Council meeting of July 29, 2025, where Mark and Aregbesola formally emerged as National Chairman and National Secretary.

The judgment noted that the NEC meeting was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission, reinforcing the legality of the process. The judge subsequently declared that the emergence of the new leadership complied with the ADC constitution, the Electoral Act 2026 and relevant party regulations.

As part of the ADC leadership judgment, the court ordered Abejide to pay N2 million in costs to each of the defendants. Justice Liman also imposed an additional N10 million penalty against the plaintiff’s lawyer in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.

Abejide filed the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, seeking to invalidate the leadership transition that followed Ralph Nwosu’s decision to hand over the party’s leadership to David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola. The lawmaker argued that the appointments did not comply with the Electoral Act and asked the court to nullify the handover conducted at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre on July 2, 2025.

He also sought perpetual injunctions preventing Mark and Aregbesola from acting as party leaders and restraining INEC from recognising them in those capacities. With Thursday’s ruling, the Federal High Court has affirmed the legality of the current ADC leadership, bringing the latest legal challenge against the party’s leadership structure to a close at the trial court level.