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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of working to turn the 2027 presidential election into a coronation for President Bola Tinubu rather than a contest, following a court ruling that nullified the leadership of the party’s caretaker committee.
The party’s Presidential Campaign Council spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, made the allegation on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, insisting that the judgment was part of an attempt to weaken opposition parties and prevent their candidates from challenging Tinubu.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja had, on November 5, nullified the David Mark-led leadership of the ADC and declared actions taken by the party’s caretaker committee invalid.
The ruling followed a suit filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former National Deputy Chairman of the party, who challenged the emergence of Mark and other members of the caretaker committee after the resignation of former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu.
Ologbondiyan alleged that the APC was determined to ensure that no opposition candidate stood against Tinubu in the 2027 election.
“So it now goes into what we have been saying because what we now want is that no candidate must stand against during the election, and that goes to nothing as far as we are concerned in the African Democratic Congress,” he said.
He said the ADC had taken steps to challenge the judgment, expressing confidence that the appeal process would overturn what he described as an attempt to dismantle democratic structures.
“We are sure that we will go to the next level in the administration of justice; we believe that all this manipulation and attempt to suppress Nigerians, all this move to dismantle democratic structures will not work. We have seen it over and over again; it will not stand,” he said.
Ologbondiyan further alleged that the dispute went beyond the ADC, accusing Tinubu of seeking to remain in power indefinitely.
“I want Nigerians to know, anyone thinking that this is about ADC is not reading the processes well. It is about one man who wants to turn himself into a life president,” he added.
He argued that an earlier decision by Justice Musa Liman of the Federal High Court in Abuja had recognised Mark’s leadership, insisting that the party acted on the strength of that ruling.
Describing Justice Lifu’s decision as a “hired gun”, Ologbondiyan questioned how a judge of the same court could invalidate actions taken in reliance on an earlier judgment from a court of equal jurisdiction.
“Now you have a hired gun coming from nowhere, sitting in appeal on the same court of the same jurisdiction, and saying that, oh, what his own fellow brother on the bench ruled is no longer valid, when it was the same court that the party obeyed in carrying out its activities,” he said.
The ADC had announced on November 6 that it had filed an appeal and an application for a stay of execution, urging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to take consequential action while the legal challenge remained pending.
Meanwhile, the party’s lawyer, Kalu Kalu, said the judgment did not invalidate the presidential candidacy of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar for the 2027 election.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Kalu argued that the court did not expressly nullify Atiku’s candidacy or that of any other ADC candidate.
“The judgement of Honourable Justice Peter Lifu does not in any way void the candidacy of Atiku Abubakar for the presidential election coming up on the 16th day of January, 2027. There is no portion of that judgement that voids the candidacy of Atiku Abubakar and other candidates of the party, there is none,” he said.
Kalu maintained that the court only declared actions taken by Mark and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola from July 29, 2025, null and void, accusing critics of reading orders into the judgment that were not contained in it.
“And we are placing it on record, let the whole world go and read the judgement of Honourable Justice Peter Lifu. The best you could get from that judgement is a declarative order made by Honourable Justice Peter Lifu that all actions, steps, activities taken by David Mark and Aregbesola from the 29th day of July 2025 till date are null and void and of no effect whatsoever. And people are now importing what is not stated or what is not declared on that judgment,” he added.
