The African Democratic Congress (ADC) led by former Senate President David Mark has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to overturn actions taken by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) regarding the party’s leadership records.
The move was contained in a motion filed before Justice Emeka Nwite, where the party is asking the court for a mandatory injunction to set aside INEC’s decision removing members of its National Working Committee (NWC) from the commission’s official portal.
The application was filed by counsel to the Mark-led faction, Sulaiman Usman (SAN), who argued that INEC wrongly interpreted a Court of Appeal ruling delivered on March 12 in a related political dispute involving the party.
According to submissions made in court filings, INEC had removed the names of David Mark as National Chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary from its records on April 1, a development the party described as unlawful and damaging to its internal structure.
The Mark-led ADC is asking the court to compel INEC to immediately restore and maintain its leadership records as they were before the dispute, insisting that the electoral body acted outside the scope of the appellate court’s directive.
“The law is settled that a mandatory injunction may be granted at an interlocutory stage to restore a party to the position wrongfully altered,” the party’s counsel argued in the filing.
The party further prayed the court to restrain INEC from recognising or giving effect to any competing leadership claims pending the final determination of the substantive suit.
The motion also seeks accelerated hearing of the case, with requests for shortened filing timelines and day-to-day proceedings, citing what the party described as the urgent need to resolve uncertainty affecting its operations.
The legal dispute stemmed from an earlier suit filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, which challenged the emergence of the Mark-led leadership.
Justice Nwite had initially declined an ex parte application seeking to stop the leadership, instead ordering parties to respond before further proceedings.
The Court of Appeal later directed that the parties maintain the status quo ante bellum, a ruling the ADC says has been misinterpreted by INEC in its decision to alter party records.
The party is currently divided into rival factions, each laying claim to legitimacy, with ongoing litigation and political tensions continuing to deepen the leadership crisis.
With court processes now underway, the dispute over who controls the official structure of the ADC remains unresolved.
