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The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the leadership of former Senate President, Senator David Mark, as National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), dealing a major legal blow to efforts to overturn the party’s leadership structure.

In a landmark judgment delivered on Thursday, Justice Musa Liman dismissed a suit filed by the member representing Yagba Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Rep. Leke Abejide, describing the action as lacking merit and holding that the court had no jurisdiction to interfere in the internal affairs of the political party.

The court upheld the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its former National Chairman, Chief Ralph Nwosu, Senator David Mark and the party’s National Secretary, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, effectively bringing Abejide’s challenge to an end.

Justice Liman ruled that the suit was non-justiciable, stressing that the plaintiff failed to establish that his legal rights had been violated by the emergence of the Mark-led leadership.

The judge further held that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit and had also failed to exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before approaching the court.

On the substantive issues, the court ruled entirely in favour of the defendants.

Justice Liman held that the transfer of leadership from Chief Ralph Nwosu to Senator Mark did not breach the ADC constitution, dismissing Abejide’s claim that the process was unlawful.

The court also recognised the July 2, 2025 stakeholders’ meeting, where the leadership transition began, as a valid precursor to the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on July 29, 2025.

According to the judgment, the NEC meeting, which was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), validly produced Senator David Mark and former Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary respectively.

Justice Liman declared that their emergence complied with the ADC constitution, the Electoral Act 2026 and all relevant legal provisions governing political parties.

In a stinging financial sanction, the court ordered Abejide to pay N2 million each to all the defendants as costs.

The judge also imposed an additional N10 million penalty against Abejide’s lawyer in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.

Abejide had, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025 and filed on February 15, sought to nullify Nwosu’s handover of the party’s leadership to Mark and Aregbesola, describing the process as illegal and unconstitutional.

He also asked the court to restrain Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as ADC leaders and to stop INEC from recognising them, arguing that their emergence failed to comply with the Electoral Act.

With Thursday’s judgment, however, the Federal High Court effectively validated the ADC’s current leadership, affirming Senator David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as the party’s duly recognised national leaders while dismissing every challenge brought against them.