Court sacks Mark-led ADC leadership, nullifies Atiku’s 2027 candidacy

The Federal High Court in Abuja has sacked the Senator David Mark-led leadership of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, declaring its actions on behalf of the party invalid.

The ruling also affects the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.

Mr Atiku, whose name was earlier published by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the ADC presidential candidate, had picked former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, as his running mate.

In a judgment delivered on Thursday, Justice Peter Lifu declared illegal the Mark-led caretaker committee, which organised the party’s presidential primary that produced Atiku as its candidate.

The court held that the committee lacked the legal authority to assume control of the party and consequently nullified the actions it took in that capacity.

The judgment followed a suit filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former Deputy National Chairman of the ADC (North-East), who challenged the process through which the Mark-led committee assumed the party’s leadership.

Mr Gombe had argued that following the resignation of the party’s former National Chairman, Chief Ralph Nwosu, he was constitutionally entitled to assume leadership of the ADC.

He consequently challenged the emergence of the Mark-led caretaker committee, insisting that the process violated the party’s constitution.

The suit sought to establish the legitimate leadership of the party amid the protracted leadership dispute that has threatened its preparations for the 2027 general election.