Nigeria’s Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, in a split decision of two-to-one on Monday, affirmed the judgment restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or participating in any state congresses organised by committees appointed by the Senator David Mark-led caretaker leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a lead verdict delivered by Justice Okon Abang, said it found no reason to set aside the restraining order the Federal High Court in Abuja had issued against the Mark-led ADC on April 29.
The appellate court further upheld the order of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, which restrained the Mark-led executives from interfering with the tenure and functions of the party’s elected state executives.
It concurred that responsibility for conducting state congresses of political parties rests with elected state executive committees, not with the national leadership.
While Justices Abang and Donatus Okorowo gave the majority verdict barring the electoral body from acknowledging the outcome of congresses held by the Mark-led leadership of the ADC, the head of the appellate court’s panel, Justice Abba Mohammed, gave a dissenting judgment.
In his minority decision, Justice Mohammed held that the case that precipitated the restraining order bordered on a non-justiciable internal affair of a political party.
He held that the trial court was wrong to have assumed jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
As it is now, the Court of Appeal judgment may jeopardise the chances of presidential candidacies of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other candidates who emerged as flagbearers through the national congress organised by the Mark-led faction of the ADC, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The High Court had, in its judgment, held that the four-year tenure of the ADC’s State Working Committees and State Executive Committees remained valid and subsisting, pending the conduct of properly constituted congresses and the convocation of a national convention.