Factional War: Supreme Court steps in, fixes date in ADC crisis

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has granted an accelerated hearing for the leadership dispute within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), setting a decisive date of April 22, 2026, to resolve the factional war currently paralysing the party.

The move marks a critical victory for the faction led by former Senate President David Mark, which is scrambling to overturn lower court rulings that have stripped them of official recognition and locked them out of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) records.

A five-member panel of the apex court, presided over by Justice Lawal Garba, on Tuesday, aligned the ADC’s legal calendar with that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is facing a nearly identical leadership crisis.

The legal firestorm within the ADC erupted following a massive influx of political heavyweights last year, including David Mark, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

These defectors from the APC and PDP adopted the ADC as a coalition vehicle to challenge the current administration.

However, the transition led to a bitter power struggle between the new Mark-led National Working Committee and a faction loyal to Nafiu Bala, a former vice-national chairperson who claims legitimacy under the party’s original constitution.

The crisis reached a boiling point on April 1, when INEC officially delisted David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as the party’s national chairman and secretary, respectively.

The commission cited a Court of Appeal ruling that ordered all parties to maintain the “status quo” pending the resolution of the substantive suit.

This administrative erasure prompted Mark’s legal team, led by Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), to rush to the Supreme Court with an “affidavit of extreme urgency,” arguing that the party is being left leaderless at a critical juncture in the electoral cycle.

Justice Garba has imposed a rigorous timeline on the proceedings, granting the Mark-led faction just 24 hours to file their briefs of argument and giving the respondents only three days to respond.

While the Supreme Court prepares for the April 22 hearing, a separate judgment at the Federal High Court in Abuja is also pending.