The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned indefinitely a leadership suit challenging the control of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) following a request to transfer the case to another judge.
Justice Emeka Nwite on Friday put the matter on hold after counsel to the plaintiff, Nafiu Bala Gombe, informed the court that an application had been submitted to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court seeking reassignment of the case.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, is challenging the leadership structure of the ADC involving former Senate President David Mark and former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola.
According to The PUNCH, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Luka Musa Haruna, told the court that the Supreme Court had on April 30 dismissed an interlocutory appeal filed by Mark and also vacated an earlier Court of Appeal order that stayed proceedings in the substantive suit.
Haruna said the plaintiff wrote to the Chief Judge on May 4, 2026, requesting the transfer of the matter to another judge and urged Justice Nwite to await the administrative decision on the application.
However, lawyers representing the defendants opposed the request, accusing the plaintiff of attempting to delay the accelerated hearing earlier ordered by the Court of Appeal and upheld by the Supreme Court.
Counsel for the first defendant, Realwan Okpanachi, argued that the defence had not been served with the application and described the move as an ambush.
Lawyer to the second defendant, Sulaiman Usman, also criticised the move, describing it as “forum shopping and judge shopping.”
Counsel for the fifth defendant, P.I. Oyewole, said the request was “strange” and accused the plaintiff of inviting the Chief Judge to engage in “judicial rascality.”
In his ruling, Justice Nwite said the court could not act on the letter without hearing all parties involved, adding that doing so would breach the defendants’ right to fair hearing.
The judge noted that since the request was directed to the Chief Judge, the trial court could not make any pronouncement on it.
He subsequently adjourned the matter sine die to allow parties file a Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court judgment, serve the defendants with the transfer request, and await further directives from the Chief Judge.
Gombe is seeking a court order restraining Mark, Aregbesola and others from presenting themselves as leaders of the ADC, arguing that their emergence violated the party’s constitution and provisions of the Electoral Act.
