The David Mark-led leadership of the African Democratic Congress has filed an urgent motion at the Federal High Court in Abuja, demanding that INEC immediately restore their names to its official portal and reverse its decision to de-recognise them as the party’s leadership.

On April 1, INEC removed Mark as National Chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary from its records, citing a Court of Appeal order. This battle has deep legal roots. Since 1983, the Supreme Court has consistently held that Nigerian courts have no jurisdiction over the internal affairs of political parties. That position was reaffirmed as recently as April 4, 2025, in the Labour Party case involving Senator Nenadi Usman and Julius Abure. The 2026 Electoral Act amendment went further, explicitly stating in Section 83, Subsection 5 that no court in Nigeria can entertain matters concerning a party’s internal affairs. Mark’s new lawyer Sulaiman Usman SAN filed two motions on April 7.

The first seeks a mandatory injunction to restore all ADC National Working Committee names on INEC’s portal, halt any interference with the party’s leadership records, and set aside INEC’s refusal to monitor ADC congresses - all pending the substantive suit. The second motion seeks accelerated day-to-day hearing of the case, arguing that the leadership uncertainty is already crippling ADC’s internal administration and democratic participation ahead of 2027. Senator Umeh used one word to describe INEC’s actions - murder.