•David Mark Faction Warns of Election Exclusion as Party Faces ‘Leadership Vacuum’**
•Apex Court Moves Judgment to 2 PM Tomorrow Following Urgent Petition to CJN**
••Atiku, Amaechi Watch Closely as Coalition Hopes Hang in the Balance
The Supreme Court has fixed tomorrow, Thursday, April 30, 2026, to deliver its final judgment in the protracted leadership crisis rocking the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The decision by the apex court comes at a time of high political tension, following a Federal High Court ruling earlier on Wednesday that sacked the Chief David Mark-led National Working Committee (NWC) and handed the party’s reins to State Chairmen.
The Supreme Court, in a notice issued on Wednesday afternoon, announced that a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba would deliver the verdict by 2:00 PM.
The Race Against Time
The announcement follows an urgent petition sent to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) by counsel to the ADC, Shaibu Enejoh Aruwa. In the letter dated April 28, 2026, the Mark-led faction warned that the party stood a “grave and irreversible risk” of being excluded from the 2027 General Elections if the legal vacuum was not resolved within three days.
“My Lord, the ADC’s ability to comply with statutory requirements to participate in the 2027 General Elections is wholly dependent on the timely delivery of the judgment,” the letter read.
Aruwa noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had already begun de-recognizing the party’s leadership based on lower court orders, leaving the ADC “without leadership at the moment.”
Legal Battlegrounds
Chief David Mark, the former Senate President, is at the apex court challenging a March 12 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had ordered parties to maintain the “status quo.”
Mark’s legal team argues that the crisis is an internal party affair beyond the jurisdiction of the courts. However, the respondents—led by aggrieved party member Nafiu Bala Gombe and supported by others including National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola—insist that the courts must intervene where the party’s constitution is violated.
This Supreme Court verdict will effectively override or affirm the ruling delivered earlier today by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, who characterized the David Mark-led emergence as a “kangaroo convention.”
High Stakes for the Opposition
The legal outcome is expected to have an immediate impact on the grand political realignment currently underway.
Only hours ago, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi were seen in a strategic meeting aimed at consolidating the ADC as a “third force” coalition to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Atiku camp has vowed to confront “APC impunity,” but their vehicle for this challenge—the ADC—remains technically leaderless until the Supreme Court speaks.
