- Safiu Kehinde
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court over its de-recognition of the David Mark-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
ADC approached the Abuja Federal High Court in a motion filed before Justice Emeka Nwite, asking it to compel INEC to reverse changes made to the party’s leadership records on its portal.
NPO Reported that INEC had in compliance with an Appeal Court ruling removed the name of Mark and other factional leaders of the party from its portal following its de-recognition of the leadership.
While the Mark-led faction had since rejected the decision with a protest staged on Wednesday at the commission’s head office in Abuja, the ADC approached the court, seeking an order of mandatory injunction setting aside INEC’s decision.
The applicants also urged the court to direct INEC to immediately restore and maintain the names of all members of the ADC’s NWC on its portal, including Senator David Mark as National Chairman and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit .
According to reports, the motion, dated and filed on April 7 by Mark’s counsel, Sulaiman Usman (SAN), is in response to the Court of Appeal’s ruling in a suit earlier instituted by Nafiu Bala Gombe before Justice Nwite.
The application, which seeks three reliefs, was brought pursuant to Order 26, Rules 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, as well as the inherent and equitable jurisdiction of the court to grant injunctive reliefs .
The lawyer argued that INEC, acting under a misapprehension of the appellate court’s order, removed the names of the party’s leadership from its portal and thereby adopted a position of non-recognition, creating a vacuum in the ADC’s leadership structure.
Usman submitted that INEC’s actions were inconsistent with the true meaning of the Court of Appeal’s order and were capable of rendering the subject matter of the suit nugatory and prejudicial to Mark and Aregbesola .
Meanwhile, in a separate motion on notice, the lawyer also sought an order for accelerated hearing of the suit.
The ADC counsel urged the court to abridge the time for filing and exchange of processes and to hear the case on a day-to-day basis until its final determination.
Usman argued that the suit raises fundamental issues affecting the leadership structure of the ADC, with far-reaching implications for democratic governance and political participation, and that the Court of Appeal had already directed that the matter be heard expeditiously.
He further warned that the continued pendency of the suit could render its subject matter nugatory and encourage parallel structures and conflicting claims.