• The Nafiu Bala faction of the ADC ordered an immediate halt to the sale of nomination forms
• The faction warned aspirants purchasing forms to do so at their own risk
• The Bala camp praised the Supreme Court’s April 30 judgment on the leadership dispute

The leadership crisis rocking the African Democratic Congress intensified on Friday, May 8, after the Nafiu Bala-led faction directed the immediate suspension of the sale of Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms pending the outcome of an ongoing court case.

The directive came as the Federal High Court adjourned indefinitely the leadership suit filed by Bala against the faction loyal to former Senate President David Mark.

In a statement issued in Abuja, the Secretary of the party’s Board of Trustees, Rufus Akanmi, said the decision was part of resolutions reached during a BoT meeting held on Thursday, May 7.

Akanmi warned aspirants and party members against proceeding with the purchase of nomination forms despite the directive.

“All parties concerned are directed to immediately suspend the sale/purchase of such forms pending the final determination of the matter presently before the Federal High Court,” he said.

He added, “Any person who proceeds to purchase the said forms does so at their own risk, and the African Democratic Congress shall not accept any liability or responsibility for consequences arising therefrom.”

The Bala faction also praised the Supreme Court’s April 30 judgment, describing it as a major boost for constitutional democracy and the rule of law in Nigeria’s political landscape.

Akanmi further appealed to members of the coalition within the party and supporters of the Mark-led camp to put aside political differences and work with the Gombe-led leadership to strengthen party unity ahead of future elections.

According to him, cooperation among party stakeholders is necessary to ensure the ADC fields credible candidates at state, local government and ward levels during the next general elections.

The BoT also directed the party’s National Working Committee to establish caretaker committees in states where the tenure of state executives had expired.

“We further direct the National Working Committee to immediately initiate processes for the convening of a Mini National Convention, for the purpose of filling all vacant positions arising from the recent resignation of certain members of the NWC,” Akanmi stated.

Meanwhile, the substantive leadership case suffered another delay at the Federal High Court in Abuja before Justice Emeka Nwite.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, had earlier been stalled following an interlocutory appeal filed by David Mark, which eventually reached the Supreme Court.

During Friday’s proceedings, counsel to the plaintiff, Luka Musa Haruna, informed the court that the Supreme Court had dismissed the interlocutory appeal on April 30 for lacking merit and vacated the Court of Appeal’s stay of proceedings.

However, Haruna disclosed that the plaintiff had already written to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court seeking the transfer of the matter to another judge.

“At this juncture, we must humbly pray to your Lordship to wait for the administrative decision of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court,” he said.

The request sparked strong objections from lawyers representing the defendants, who accused the plaintiff of attempting to delay the accelerated hearing earlier ordered by the appellate court.

Counsel to the first defendant, Realwan Okpanachi, argued that the plaintiff misrepresented the Supreme Court judgment and described the transfer request as an ambush.

“We also consider it as an attempt to frustrate the order of accelerated hearing granted by the Court of Appeal and upheld by the Supreme Court,” he said.

Lawyer to the second defendant, Sulaiman Usman, condemned the move and described it as “forum shopping and judge shopping.”

He argued that Justice Nwite had been commended by the Supreme Court for his handling of the matter and warned against allowing such a “dangerous trend” in the judicial process.

Other defence lawyers aligned with the objections, insisting that substantive requests could not be made through private correspondence to the Chief Judge.

In his ruling, Justice Nwite stated that the court could not act on the transfer request without hearing all parties involved.

“Taking a decision or any action in such a letter without hearing from the defendants will amount to breach of their fundamental right in this suit,” the judge ruled.

He subsequently adjourned the matter indefinitely to allow parties file a Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court judgment, serve the defendants with the transfer request, and await directives from the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.

Akpabio jokes ADC ‘is dead’ amid fresh wave of political defections

Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, sparked reactions in the upper chamber after joking that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) was effectively “dead” following a series of high-profile defections by lawmakers.

He went further to question the frequency of political defections, remarking humorously that some lawmakers appeared to be switching parties multiple times within a short period. “How many times can you defect in a month? Once. But some have done three times,” he added.