Mark , Aregbesola approach court to reverse INEC delisting

Former Senate President David Mark has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking a mandatory injunction to compel INEC to restore his name and that of Rauf Aregbesola as the recognized leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The leadership crisis within the African Democratic Congress (ADC) shifted to the judiciary on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, as former Senate President David Mark approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Through his counsel, Sulaiman Usman (SAN), Mark filed a motion seeking a mandatory injunction to compel INEC to reverse its April 1 decision, which saw his name and that of Rauf Aregbesola—the National Secretary—removed from the commission’s official portal. The legal action requests the court to restore the David Mark-led National Working Committee (NWC) to INEC’s records, pending the final determination of a suit regarding the party’s internal governance.

The suit, presided over by Judge Emeka Nwite, seeks to restrain INEC from recognizing any rival leadership or interfering with the party’s established records during the litigation process. Mark’s legal team argued that the electoral body misinterpreted a March 12 Court of Appeal judgment, which had directed all parties to maintain the “status quo ante bellum”—the state of affairs existing before the dispute began. Mark contends that as of September 2, 2025, the date the original suit was instituted, he remained the legally recognized National Chairman of the ADC. He is now urging the court to nullify INEC’s recent refusal to monitor the party’s congresses and convention, describing the delisting as a premature and illegal move.

The dispute stems from a long-running power struggle involving various factions, including challenges from former deputy Nafiu Bala Gombe, who has laid claim to the acting chairmanship. While INEC appears to have acted on appellate directives to freeze leadership changes, Mark’s faction maintains that the commission’s interpretation effectively decapitated the party’s administrative structure ahead of the 2027 electoral cycle. “He is asking the court to set aside the removal of the ADC National Working Committee (NWC) from INEC’s records and direct the electoral body to restore and maintain the names of the party’s leadership pending the determination of the suit,” the filing stated. The court has yet to fix a date for the hearing of the motion.

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