ADC chieftain bags N100m fine as party returns to court over deregistration battle

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has been hit by a fresh legal blow after a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered one of its national officers, Nkemakolam Ukandu, to pay N100 million for filing a suit against two judges.

The order came as the ADC and four other political parties return to the Court of Appeal in Abuja today to continue their battle against a judgment directing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to deregister them.

Ukandu, who is the National Welfare Secretary of the ADC, was ordered to pay N50 million each to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, and Justice Peter Lifu.

Justice Salim Ibrahim gave the order following an oral application by counsel to the two judges, J. U. K. Igwe.

The court also struck out Ukandu’s suit for lack of diligent prosecution after neither he nor his lawyer appeared in court when the case was called on Monday.

The court held that the N100 million cost must be paid within 14 days.

Ukandu had dragged the two judges before the court, accusing them of bias and disobedience of a Supreme Court directive in relation to the leadership crisis rocking the ADC.

He also listed the National Judicial Council, NJC, as a defendant in the suit.

In the case marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1165/2026, the ADC chieftain asked the court to compel the NJC to investigate allegations of corruption, abuse of judicial powers and bias against the two judges.

He specifically challenged the reassignment of the suit questioning the Senator David Mark-led leadership of the ADC from Justice Emeka Nwite to Justice Lifu.

But when the matter came up, the plaintiff and his counsel were absent, prompting the court to strike out the case and award punitive costs.

The development comes as the ADC faces another major test at the Court of Appeal, where it is seeking to overturn the Federal High Court judgment that ordered INEC to deregister it and four other parties.

The other parties are the Action Peoples Party, APP; Action Alliance, AA; Accord Party, AP; and Zenith Labour Party, ZLP.

A three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Abba Mohammed, is expected to hear the substantive appeals today.

The Court of Appeal had earlier ordered a stay of execution of the Federal High Court judgment, which barred INEC from recognising the five parties or accepting candidates from them for future elections, including the 2027 general elections.

The trial court had held that the parties failed to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration as political parties.

The case was filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators, NFFL, which argued that the affected parties failed to meet the performance benchmark set out in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The plaintiffs said the parties failed to secure the required percentage of votes in a presidential election or win at least one elective seat at the national, state or local government level.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, also supported the plaintiffs’ position before the trial court.

However, the affected parties and INEC have asked the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgment.

The appellate court had also criticised Justice Lifu for going ahead to deliver judgment despite an earlier order directing him to stay proceedings pending the outcome of an appeal.

The court described the action as “judicial impertinence,” citing previous Supreme Court warnings against conduct considered to amount to judicial rascality.