The Supreme Court has fixed April 22, 2026, for the hearing of an appeal filed by Senator David Mark, National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, against the Court of Appeal’s March 12 judgment that dismissed his challenge in the ongoing ADC leadership dispute with Nafiu Bala Gombe.
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Justice Lawal Garba, who led the five-member panel of Justices, fixed the date on Tuesday after processes were adopted by all parties involved in the appeal.
The adjournment from April 14 to April 22 means the ADC leadership crisis will remain unresolved for at least another week at the apex court level further extending the uncertainty that has paralysed the party’s operations, prevented it from holding a recognised convention, and left it without acknowledged leadership on INEC’s portal.
In the appeal marked SC/CV/180/2026, Mark is asking the Supreme Court to grant an order staying the execution of the Court of Appeal’s ruling delivered on March 12, 2026 the judgment that dismissed his appeal against the Federal High Court proceedings and directed parties to return to the trial court while maintaining the “status quo ante bellum.”
Mark is also seeking orders restraining INEC from altering the party’s current national leadership structure as constituted and represented by him, and staying further proceedings in the Gombe suit at the Federal High Court pending the Supreme Court’s determination.
The legal battle has now traversed all three tiers of the Nigerian judiciary in just over seven months — a remarkable pace for a case that has paralysed one of the country’s most significant opposition parties.
The chain of events began on September 2, 2025, when Nafiu Bala Gombe filed suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to restrain INEC from recognising the Mark-led ADC executives and to be recognised as acting national chairman. He maintained that he never resigned his position as deputy national chairman and argued he should have assumed leadership following Ralph Nwosu’s exit as national chairman.
On September 4, 2025, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court heard an ex parte application filed by Gombe but refused to grant the injunctive reliefs sought. Instead, the judge directed that the respondents — including Mark, INEC, and others — be put on notice to show cause why the application should not be granted.
Dissatisfied with aspects of that ruling, Mark filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal, challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to continue hearing Gombe’s suit.
On March 12, 2026, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam dismissed Mark’s appeal in its entirety. The appellate court upheld the objection raised by Gombe’s legal team, led by Luka Musa Haruna SAN, that the appeal was incompetent and that it was based on issues not reflected in the ruling of the trial court.
The Court of Appeal directed parties to return to the trial court and maintain the status quo ante bellum pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Mark has now brought the matter to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision.
Following the Court of Appeal’s March 12 judgment, INEC took several consequential steps. On April 1, 2026, the commission removed the names of Mark and Aregbesola from its official portal as the ADC’s National Chairman and National Secretary. The commission announced it would no longer recognise either faction, would cease accepting correspondence from both sides, and would not monitor their meetings, congresses, or conventions.
In response, the Mark faction filed a motion at the Federal High Court on April 7, through counsel Sulaiman Usman SAN, seeking a mandatory injunction compelling INEC to restore their names on the portal and seeking accelerated hearing of the case.
INEC’s interpretation of the Court of Appeal’s “status quo ante bellum” order which Mark’s faction argues was a misinterpretation — remains one of the central points of contention that the Supreme Court may ultimately need to address.
Tuesday, April 14, was a day of multiple ADC-related court proceedings.
At the Supreme Court, the five-member panel heard arguments and adopted processes before fixing April 22 for the substantive hearing.
At the Federal High Court, Justice Nwite was also scheduled to hear Gombe’s suit the very case that Mark’s Supreme Court appeal seeks to stay. It was widely expected that the Federal High Court would defer to the Supreme Court proceedings, though the outcome of that hearing was not immediately available.
On Monday, April 13, Justice Musa Liman of the Federal High Court was scheduled to deliver judgment in the separate Abejide suit, which also challenges Mark’s leadership of the ADC adding another judicial front to the crisis.
The Supreme Court hearing on April 22 could prove decisive for the ADC’s future.
If the apex court grants Mark’s application for a stay of execution of the Court of Appeal’s judgment, it would effectively freeze all lower court proceedings, potentially restrain INEC from further actions against the Mark leadership, and preserve the existing situation until the Supreme Court resolves the substantive appeal.
If the Supreme Court declines the stay, the Federal High Court proceedings would continue, and INEC’s derecognition of the Mark leadership would remain in force — potentially clearing the way for judicial determinations at the trial court level that could permanently settle the leadership question.
The adjournment to April 22 means the ADC leadership crisis will extend into the party primaries window, which opens on April 23 — just one day after the Supreme Court hearing.
Without resolved leadership, without INEC recognition, and with multiple courts yet to make definitive rulings, the ADC’s ability to conduct valid primaries and nominate candidates for the 2027 elections remains severely compromised.
The party that attracted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, former Kano Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, and nine senators as the primary opposition vehicle now faces the prospect of entering the primaries window without the legal clarity needed to conduct those primaries.
Every day of continued uncertainty reduces the ADC’s capacity to organise, nominate, and prepare for elections and April 22 represents either the beginning of resolution or another delay in a crisis that has already consumed months and shows no sign of ending.
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