The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by David Mark challenging the jurisdiction of courts to intervene in the internal affairs of the African Democratic Congress.
A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Garba Mohammed, announced that judgment would be delivered at a later date after hearing arguments from all parties.
Counsel to Mark, Jibrin Okutepa, urged the court to allow the appeal, arguing that the issue had already been settled by the Supreme Court in a previous ruling.
He said the court had, on March 21, 2025, held that “no court has jurisdiction to entertain cases bordering on internal affairs of political parties”, insisting that the trial court lacked the authority to hear the suit.
However, counsel to Nafiu Gombe, Robert Emukpero, asked the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the decision of the lower court, which ruled that Mark’s case was premature.
Earlier, the Court of Appeal had dismissed Mark’s challenge against the jurisdiction of Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, who is presiding over the suit filed by Gombe against the ADC leadership.
The appellate court held that the appeal was filed without leave of the trial court and was therefore premature. It ordered the case to return to the lower court for accelerated hearing and directed all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum.
Following that directive, the Independent National Electoral Commission de-recognised the Mark-led leadership of the ADC pending the final determination of the dispute. Dissatisfied with the ruling, Mark approached the Supreme Court to challenge both the appellate court’s decision and the order enforcing the status quo.
After adopting their briefs of argument, the apex court declined to take pending motions and instead proceeded to reserve judgment, bringing the legal battle over the ADC leadership closer to a decisive conclusion.
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