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From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Leaders of the six geopolitical zones of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) have warned former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to stop parading himself as the party’s presidential candidate, insisting that his purported emergence lacks legal backing.
The leaders said Atiku’s claim to the party’s presidential ticket was invalid because the leadership that purportedly produced him had been nullified by a subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court.
They spoke in a communiqué signed by Dr Christopher Okechukwu, Director of Media and Public Affairs, on behalf of the six zonal leaderships, following a meeting at which they passed a vote of confidence in Hon. Nafiu Bala Gombe as the authentic and subsisting leader of the party.
The group urged Atiku to immediately stop presenting himself as the ADC presidential candidate and to suspend all campaign activities, rallies and public representations made in that capacity.
The warning followed a judgment delivered on 5 November 2026 by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, which the zonal leaders said invalidated the leadership of Senator David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola.
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According to the communiqué, the judgment had neither been set aside, stayed, vacated nor reversed by any superior court, and all party members were bound to respect it.
The leaders argued that since the David Mark-led leadership, which purportedly produced Atiku as the party’s presidential candidate, had been declared invalid, his candidacy could not stand on a legally defective foundation.
They stated: “In law, you cannot build something on nothing and expect it to stand. A candidacy that flows from an invalidated leadership is itself without legal foundation. There is no valid platform upon which your purported presidential candidacy can rest.”
The group further accused Atiku of undermining the authority of the judiciary through his continued campaign and public presentation as the party’s flag bearer.
“No person, however highly placed, is above the law. The continued defiance of a valid judgment of court is an affront to the authority of the judiciary and a direct challenge to constitutional order,” the communiqué stated.
