Nigeria Court Voids Atiku Nomination and Sacks Mark-Led ADC Leadership

A federal judge in Abuja tore up the African Democratic Congress presidential ticket on Thursday, five weeks into the campaign season and a day after Atiku Abubakar held a rally in Sokoto State.

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court nullified the ADC leadership led by former Senate President David Mark and invalidated every decision taken under it. The ruling cancels the primary election that produced Atiku, a former vice president, as the ADC candidate for the 2027 general elections. It also cancels the nominations of every other candidate the party presented for those elections.

The court held that the Mark-led Caretaker Committee was illegal and lacked the constitutional authority to run the party or conduct the primary. Justice Lifu ruled that the way the leadership emerged violated the ADC constitution, the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution. He directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to recognise or act on decisions reached at the party's 99th National Executive Committee meeting on July 27, 2025.

A leadership fight inside the party

The judgment came in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former ADC Deputy National Chairman for the North-East. Gombe challenged how the Mark-led caretaker committee took control of the party. He argued that after former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu resigned, he was the officer constitutionally entitled to take over the leadership.

The defendants were the ADC, INEC, Senator Mark, Rauf Aregbesola and Chief Ralph Nwosu. The ruling also nullified Aregbesola's emergence as National Secretary, along with the other national officers chosen under the committee. Aregbesola is a former Minister of Interior.

Speaking after the judgment, Lukman Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria acting for Gombe, said: "All the actions taken by the ADC as a party since July 27 to date stand annulled."

What the ruling wipes out

Atiku had already been published by INEC as a presidential candidate, with former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his running mate. That listing now rests on a primary the court says never lawfully happened. The ADC presented itself as a rallying point for opposition figures ahead of the vote, and Atiku held a campaign rally in Sokoto State barely 24 hours before the judgment.

The ADC says it will appeal. National Welfare Secretary Nkemakolam Ukandu, who was joined in the suit as an interested party, confirmed the party's next legal steps after the ruling. An appeal would ask the appellate court to restore the leadership and the nominations while the election calendar runs.

Nigeria's presidential election is scheduled for January 16, 2027 under the INEC timetable. Until an appeal is heard, the ADC has no recognised leadership, no valid presidential candidate and no valid candidate list for the 2027 elections.