A Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, has scheduled June 3 to hear a lawsuit brought by Nafiu-Bala Gombe.
The suit aims to prevent David Mark and others from presenting themselves as leaders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
According to reports from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), hearing notices have already been prepared and delivered to the legal teams representing all involved parties, a development that was validated by one of the lawyers.
The legal battle, initiated by the dissatisfied former National Deputy Chairman of the ADC, was previously being handled by Justice Emeka Nwite in a different courtroom.
However, the file was reassigned to Justice Lifu because of Justice Nwite’s recent promotion to the Court of Appeal.
The National Judicial Council (NJC), during its 111th meeting on May 13, had put forward the names of 12 new justices for the Court of Appeal, including Justice Nwite, to President Bola Tinubu for his endorsement.
In the lawsuit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, Gombe is pushing for a restraining order against Senator Mark, the contested National Chairman of the ADC; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the National Secretary; and other figures within their temporary National Working Committee (NWC).
He listed the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Ralph Nwosu as the first to fifth defendants, respectively.
Nwosu is the former ADC National Chairman who vacated the role for the leadership team headed by David Mark.
Gombe’s core argument is that the rise of Mark, Aregbesola, and the remaining NWC officials to party leadership violated both the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act.
Earlier, on April 14, Justice Nwite had paused the proceedings indefinitely following a plea from Gombe to wait out a Supreme Court ruling regarding an appeal filed by Mark.
By April 30, the Supreme Court overturned a previous Court of Appeal directive that had ordered both sides to maintain the status quo ante bellum—a ruling INEC had relied upon when it stopped recognizing Mark’s leadership block.
The apex court instead directed the disputing factions back to the Federal High Court for a swift and thorough hearing of Gombe’s grievances. Following this apex court decision, INEC adjusted its official online portal to restore the Mark-led leadership team.
When the case returned to Justice Nwite’s courtroom on May 8, Gombe’s lawyer, Luka Haruna, SAN, asked for the matter to be moved to a different judge, noting that a formal letter had been sent to the Chief Judge, though no specific reasons were given.
This request faced fierce resistance from the defense block. ADC’s attorney, Rilwan Okpanachi; Suleiman Usman, SAN, representing Mark; Mohammed Sheriff, representing Aregbesola; and P. I. Oyewole, representing Chief Ralph Nwosu, all strongly kicked against shifting the case.
The defense attorneys labeled the sudden transfer request an ambush, noting they had not even been served with the letter.
They argued it was a tactic to delay the accelerated hearing timeline initially backed by the appellate courts, describing the move as “forum shopping.”
The lawyers maintained that the request only proved the courtroom’s integrity since no unusual developments had occurred since the previous pause.
They expressed absolute confidence in the fairness and judicial wisdom of Justice Nwite.
They further argued: “The so-called letter in a normal view, is a fundamental breach of procedure, amounting in law to an illegality and not a mere irregularity.”
While they wanted to move straight into the hearing, they noted they were still waiting on a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court judgment to properly guide the trial court. Consequently, they requested an interim pause, leading Justice Nwite to adjourn the matter indefinitely until the official CTC could be presented.
