The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tshoho, has transferred the suit challenging the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to a new judge for an accelerated hearing.
The lawsuit, which was filed by Nafiu-Bala Gombe, a former National Deputy Chairman of the party, was moved from Justice Emeka Nwite to Justice Peter Lifu following Justice Nwite’s recent promotion to the Court of Appeal.
In the lawsuit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, Gombe is seeking an order to stop the embattled National Chairman, Senator David Mark, National Secretary Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and other members of the interim National Working Committee (NWC) from parading themselves as leaders of the ADC.
Gombe contends that the current leadership setup violates both the party’s internal constitution and the Electoral Act. The case names the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and former party chairman Ralph Nwosu as defendants.
The reassignment follows a directives from the Supreme Court, which intervened in the internal party dispute on April 30. The apex court set aside an earlier Court of Appeal order that had caused INEC to derecognize the David Mark-led faction, and instead ordered all parties back to the Federal High Court for a swift and conclusive trial.
Before the case was transferred, it had faced a series of delays. Justice Nwite had previously halted the matter indefinitely while waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision.
When the case resumed on May 8, Gombe’s legal team, led by Luka Haruna (SAN), requested that the Chief Judge reassign the case to another courtroom.
Defense lawyers representing the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, and Nwosu strongly opposed changing judges at the time. They argued that the court should instead wait for a certified true copy of the Supreme Court judgment to guide the lower court’s proceedings.
Consequently, the case was briefly paused again before the Chief Judge eventually made the decision to reassign the file to Justice Lifu.
