THE Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the judgment restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or participating in any state congresses organised by the David Mark-led leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
News Point Nigeria reports that the appellate court, in a split decision of two to one delivered on Monday, upheld the earlier judgment handed down by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The judgment, which was delivered on April 29, 2026, had restrained INEC from recognising or taking part in any state congresses conducted by the David Mark-led leadership of the opposition party.
The appellate court’s ruling effectively sustains the decision of the lower court and reinforces the restriction placed on the electoral commission in relation to congresses organised by the current ADC leadership under the former Senate President.
In a lead verdict delivered by Justice Okon Abang, a three-member panel of Justices said it found no reason to set aside the restraining order the Federal High Court, Abuja, had issued against the Mark-led ADC on April 29.
It further upheld the order of trial Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, which restrained the Mark-led executives from interfering with the tenure and functions of the party’s elected state executives.
The appellate court 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.
The Federal 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.
The judgment followed a suit lodged before the court by aggrieved members of the ADC.
