A faction of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), led by Senator David Mark, has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, challenging the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove the names of some of the party’s top officials from its official records.
The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, was triggered by INEC’s action on April 1, which saw the removal of David Mark as National Chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary from its portal.
In a motion on notice dated April 7, Mark, through his counsel, Sulaiman Usman (SAN), is seeking a court order compelling INEC to immediately restore the names of the party’s National Working Committee members as they appeared before the controversy.
The application, filed under the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, is anchored on the court’s equitable jurisdiction and requests three major reliefs.
Chief among them is an order setting aside INEC’s decision to delete the names of the party’s leadership and its refusal to recognise or monitor the party’s congresses and conventions pending the determination of the suit.
Mark is also asking the court to direct INEC to reinstate and maintain his position as National Chairman, alongside Aregbesola as National Secretary, including all members of the National Executive Committee.
In addition, the suit seeks to restrain INEC from further interference with the party’s leadership records or recognising any rival claims until the case is fully resolved.
The legal action follows a March 12 ruling of the Court of Appeal in a dispute initiated by a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Nafiu Gombe.
The appellate court had directed all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum—the condition that existed before the dispute began.
Mark’s counsel argued that as of September 2, 2025, when the suit was originally filed, Mark was the duly recognised National Chairman of the party.
He maintained that INEC misinterpreted the appellate court’s directive by removing the names, thereby creating a leadership vacuum within the party.
According to the senior advocate, the commission’s action undermines the intent of the court’s ruling and threatens the integrity of the ongoing legal process.
He further noted that the law permits the grant of a mandatory injunction at an interlocutory stage to restore a party to its previous position when such position has been wrongfully altered.
In a separate motion, also filed in April, the applicant is seeking an accelerated hearing of the case, citing the urgency and wider implications of the dispute on the party’s operations and Nigeria’s democratic process.
The request includes a call for shortened timelines for filing court processes and a day-to-day hearing schedule until the matter is concluded.
Usman warned that prolonged uncertainty over the party’s leadership could lead to the emergence of parallel factions and disrupt its internal administration and political activities.
Court documents indicate that the dispute dates back to September 2025, when the trial court declined an ex parte application by Gombe seeking to halt the activities of the Mark-led leadership.
Instead, the court directed that all parties be put on notice.
Subsequently, the Mark-led faction challenged the court’s jurisdiction at the Court of Appeal, which ordered that the case return to the lower court while maintaining the existing leadership structure.
In the substantive suit, Gombe listed the ADC, David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, INEC, and Ralph Nwosu as defendants.
Nwosu, a former national chairman, had earlier stepped down, paving the way for Mark’s emergence as party leader.
