The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the judgment by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, purporting to sack the Senator David Mark-led leadership and invalidate the candidacy of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, as another desperate attempt to cripple the opposition and deny Nigerians the right to choose their leaders in the forthcoming general elections.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the timing of the judgment, barely 24 hours after the massive turnout at the ADC presidential campaign rally in Sokoto, exposes what it considers the growing desperation of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The ADC said it has reasons to believe that the judgment had long been written, and that the Sokoto rally was simply a trigger that stampeded its delivery. It noted that yesterday, Nigerians came out in their hundreds of thousands to demonstrate support for the ADC and its promise of making life affordable for them, only to be told today that the party they support and the candidates they have supported at all levels could be erased by the stroke of a reckless judicial pen.
The party questioned whether those behind the flawed judgment had considered its far-reaching implications for the country, warning that the attempt to invalidate the party’s leadership could affect thousands of candidates contesting elections at the local, state and federal levels.
The ADC maintained that this is not about Atiku Abubakar or David Mark, but about the democratic rights of Nigerians to freely choose their own leaders and the rights of thousands of candidates to participate in a democratic process.
The party maintained that the judgment is legally indefensible and would be challenged through every available judicial process. It anchored its objection on the subsisting judgment of Justice Musa Liman of the same Federal High Court, delivered on 2 July 2026 in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, which affirmed the legitimacy of the David Mark-led NWC and directed INEC to recognise the leadership.
The ADC argued that it is a settled principle of Nigerian jurisprudence that a court of coordinate jurisdiction cannot sit on appeal over, review, vary or nullify the subsisting judgment of another court of equal jurisdiction. It therefore rejects any consequential orders founded on a determination that appears to disregard these fundamental legal principles, while awaiting the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment to ascertain its precise terms, scope and operative orders.
The party said it has seen this script before, alleging that when the ruling party is scared that the opposition is gathering steam, it uses judges in the courts to influence legally indefensible judgments. It added that the millions of hungry Nigerians waiting at the ballot box see through the move and will not sit down in silence while democracy is taken away by the courts.
The ADC warned the APC against pursuing what it described as a dangerous attempt to eliminate political competition through judicial controversies, saying the peace and stability of Nigeria are bigger than the ambition of any president or political party. It insisted that Nigeria belongs to Nigerians, not to the APC, and that the presidency is not an inheritance, challenging the President and the ruling party to subject themselves to free and fair elections if they believe they have performed well.
