2027: Drama as court adjourns ADC leadership suit indefinitely

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

Hearing in the suit filed by Nafiu Gombe against the Senator David Mark led- leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has been stalled and adjourned indefinitely following a fresh twist in the leadership crisis of the party.

The development followed a request by the plaintiff, Nafiu Gombe, seeking the reassignment of the case to another judge.

The request was received stiff opposition from counsel to David Mark and other Defendants in the suit who accused Gombe of deliberate attempts to frustrate the speedy hearing of the case, as ordered by both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

In the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, Gombe is seeking an order of court removing David Mark, former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola and other allies from leadership positions in the party, alleging that their emergence violated both the ADC constitution and provisions of the Electoral Act.

However, when the case came up for hearing yesterday, counsel to the plaintiff, Luka Musa Haruna, informed Justice Emeka Nwite that a formal application had been submitted to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court on May 4, 2026, requesting the transfer of the case.

This is coming shortly after the Supreme Court delivered a judgment on April 30 dismissing an interlocutory appeal filed by David Mark and vacating an earlier stay of proceedings, thereby paving the way for the substantive suit to proceed.

Haruna told the court that the apex court had dismissed the appeal for lacking merit and urged Justice Nwite to suspend further proceedings pending the decision of the Chief Judge on the transfer request.

However, the request triggered strong opposition from the defence team, which accused the plaintiff of attempting to frustrate the hearing of the case through procedural tactics.

Counsel to the first defendant, Realwan Okpanachi, argued that the defendants were unaware of the transfer request and described the move as an ambush designed to delay the accelerated hearing earlier directed by superior courts.

Towing the same path, counsel to David Mark, Sulaiman Usman, accused the plaintiff of engaging in “forum shopping,” a legal term used to describe attempts to seek a more favourable court or judge.

Another defence lawyer, P.I. Oyewole, warned that allowing private correspondence to influence court proceedings could encourage what he described as “judicial rascality.”

In his ruling, Justice Nwite held that taking any decision on the transfer request without hearing from all parties would amount to a breach of the defendants’ right to fair hearing.

The judge further explained that since the request was directed to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to determine its merit.

Consequently, the court adjourned the matter indefinitely to allow parties file the Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court judgment, ensure proper service of the transfer request on all defendants and await directives from the Chief Judge.