The Federal High Court in Abuja has postponed indefinitely the suit filed by an African Democratic Congress member, Nafiu Bala Gombe, against the party’s current leadership led by former Senate President David Mark.
Justice Emeka Nwite put the case on hold on Friday after the plaintiff informed the court that a request had already been sent to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, asking that the matter be transferred to another judge.
The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, has added to the internal crisis within the ADC after David Mark and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola became part of the party’s leadership arrangement.
During the court session, the lawyer representing the plaintiff, Luka Musa Haruna, told the judge that the Supreme Court had already ruled on an earlier appeal connected to the matter. According to him, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by David Mark on April 30, 2026, after deciding it lacked merit.
Haruna also informed the court that the Supreme Court cancelled the earlier order of the Court of Appeal which had stopped proceedings in the main suit.
The plaintiff’s lawyer further explained that a letter dated May 4, 2026 had been sent to the Chief Judge requesting that the matter be reassigned to another judge. He then asked Justice Nwite to wait for the Chief Judge’s decision before continuing with the case.
Lawyers representing the defendants opposed the request and accused the plaintiff of trying to delay the case despite earlier orders for speedy hearing.
Counsel for the first defendant, Realwan Okpanachi, said the defence team had not been officially served any notice regarding the request for transfer. He argued that the action was unfair and described it as an attempt to slow down the proceedings already approved for accelerated hearing by higher courts.
Lawyer to the second defendant, Sulaiman Usman, also rejected the request. He argued that informing the court about a private letter sent to the Chief Judge while asking the court to suspend proceedings was improper and should not be encouraged.
Another defence lawyer, P.I. Oyewole, who appeared for the fifth defendant, also opposed the application and described the move as unusual.
In response, the plaintiff’s counsel insisted on the request for reassignment.
While delivering his ruling, Justice Nwite said the court could not take any decision on the letter without first allowing all parties to be heard. He explained that acting on such a request without hearing from the defendants would affect their right to fair hearing.
The judge also stated that since the letter was directed to the Chief Judge, the trial court could not make any decision on it.
Justice Nwite then adjourned the case indefinitely to allow parties file the Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court judgment, serve the defendants with the transfer request letter, and await further directives from the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.
Gombe is asking the court to stop David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola and others from presenting themselves as leaders of the ADC. He argued that their emergence did not follow the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.
.jpeg)
0 Comments
DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed on this platform as comments were freely made by each person under his or her own volition or responsibility and were neither suggested nor dictated by the owners of News PLATFORM or any of their contracted staff. So we take no liability whatsoever for such comments.
Please take note!