Appeal Court Shifts Judgment In Mark, Aregbesola ADC Leadership Suit

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has fixed July 13 for judgment in appeals filed by the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), David Mark, and the party’s National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, against a Federal High Court judgment restraining them from dissolving the party’s State Working Committees.

Naija News understands that the appellate court had initially scheduled Wednesday for the delivery of judgment in the matter, but the verdict was postponed at the last minute until next week.

No reason was given for the postponement, which was announced on Wednesday afternoon after lawyers, journalists and politicians had reportedly waited in the courtroom for more than two hours.

Court Postpones Verdict

According to Daily Trust, a registrar of the Court of Appeal, who declined to disclose his name, entered the courtroom and announced that the judgment had been “put off.”

The court official said the judgment would now be delivered on Monday, July 13, in the afternoon.

The development means Mark and Aregbesola will have to wait until next week to know the fate of their challenge against the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The ADC, Mark and Aregbesola, in their separate appeals, are challenging the decision of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who stopped the party’s national leadership from cutting short the four-year tenure of its state officers.

State Chairmen Challenge Dissolution

The legal dispute followed a suit instituted by some ADC state chairmen against the party’s national leadership over plans to dissolve the State Working Committees.

The plaintiffs, Don Norman Obinna, Johnny Tovie Derek, Obah C. Ehigiator, Olona Yinka, Dr Charles Idowu Omideji, Samuel Pam Gyang and Obianyo Patrick, filed the action for themselves and on behalf of all state chairmen and State Executive Committees of the ADC.

At the centre of the dispute is whether the four-year tenure of the party’s State Working Committees and State Executive Committees remains valid and subsisting pending the conduct of properly constituted state congresses and the convocation of a national convention.

The state party officials had approached the Federal High Court to challenge any attempt by the Mark-led national leadership to remove them before the expiration of their tenure.

Delivering judgment in the suit, Justice Abdulmalik voided and set aside the plan by the David Mark-led leadership of the ADC to dissolve the State Working Committees.

The judge held against the move to prematurely terminate the tenure of the state officers, prompting the party and its national leaders to approach the Court of Appeal.

The ADC, Mark and Aregbesola subsequently filed separate appeals seeking to overturn the Federal High Court’s decision.

The appellate court is now expected to determine whether the national leadership of the party has the power to dissolve the existing state structures or whether the four-year tenure of the state executives must be allowed to run its course pending properly constituted congresses and a national convention.