ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Nigeria’s Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by former Senate President and current National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), David Mark, over the lingering leadership dispute within the party.
In its judgment delivered on Thursday, the appellate court also awarded a cost of N2 million against Mark and ordered an accelerated hearing of the substantive case pending before the Federal High Court.
Mark had challenged a September 4, 2025 ruling by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, which declined to grant injunctive reliefs sought in an ex parte application filed by a party chieftain, Nafiu Bala Gombe.
Gombe, a former Deputy National Chairman of the ADC, had approached the court contesting the emergence of Mark as National Chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary of the party.
In his application, Gombe sought an interlocutory injunction restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising Mark and Aregbesola as leaders of the party.
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However, in his ruling, Justice Nwite directed that the respondents be served with the application and asked to show cause why the reliefs sought should not be granted rather than granting the ex parte request.
Dissatisfied with the decision, Mark appealed the ruling, arguing that the trial judge had effectively refused the application and therefore lacked jurisdiction to conduct further hearings on it.
Delivering the lead judgment in the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/145/2026, Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam upheld the preliminary objection raised by Gombe’s legal team led by Luka Musa Haruna (SAN), which challenged the competence of the appeal.
Justice Onyemenam held that the issues raised in Mark’s appeal were not reflected in the ruling delivered by the trial court and noted that the appellate court could not determine matters that had not been decided by the lower court.
She further held that Mark relied on an enrolled order prepared by the court registrar rather than the ruling read in open court by the judge, stressing that the official record of a court’s decision is the pronouncement made by the judge.
The appellate court also found the appeal incompetent because it was filed without obtaining the required leave of court, noting that the ruling being challenged was an interlocutory order arising from the trial judge’s discretionary power to regulate proceedings.
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Justice Onyemenam explained that the trial court did not determine the ex parte application but merely directed that the adverse parties be placed on notice to respond to the claims.
She added that such a directive could not be interpreted as a final determination of the application.
Consequently, the court dismissed the appeal for lacking merit, awarded N2 million in costs against Mark, and ordered that the substantive suit pending before the Federal High Court be heard expeditiously.
The court also directed all parties involved to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the main case.
The substantive suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, seeks among other reliefs to nullify the emergence of the Mark-led leadership of the ADC.
Other members of the appellate panel Justices Mohammed Mustapha and Okon Abang, concurred with the lead judgment.