Judiciary Must Protect this Democracy, By Simon Kolawole

When news broke on Thursday that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court had sacked the David Mark-led caretaker committee of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and consequently nullified the nomination of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate, my initial response was: are we still on this matter? Maybe I slept off along the way. All I had on my mind was that we were now fully set for the epic 2027 presidential election without further drama. I was already doing my permutations on a three-horse race, silently praying for a free and fair process so that we can have something more to celebrate in our democratic journey. My spirit was dampened once again.

The judgment, which the ADC said it has appealed, declared the party’s caretaker committee illegal in the suit brought by Alhaji Nafiu Bala Gombe, the former national deputy chairman (north-east) of the party. The judge also invalidated all decisions taken by the committee. In simplified language, all the primaries conducted by the committee are null and void. That means the party does not have a presidential candidate, much less flagbearers for the governorship and legislative elections. Basically, the ADC, as things stand, will not participate in the 2027 general election. Lifu decided that all the actions taken by the Mark-led committee are illegal, null, void and of no effect. That is massive!

The ADC immediately blamed the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the judgment. In a statement, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC spokesperson, described the verdict as a “desperate attempt to cripple the opposition and deny Nigerians the right to choose their leaders in the forthcoming general elections”. He said the judgment’s timing, barely 24 hours after the “massive turnout” at the ADC presidential campaign rally in Sokoto, “exposes the growing desperation of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)”. Atiku, for his part, said “it is part of a strategy to weaken my support in the north and frustrate a campaign whose message is resonating across the country”.

The APC rejected the ADC allegation. Olorogun Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation and aerospace development, also issued a strongly-worded statement. “Justice may be slow, but it is always SURE!” Keyamo wrote on X. “You cannot invade a political Party owned and built by Nigerians, hijack it with the connivance of a so-called National Chairman without a PRIOR meeting and approval of a mini National Convention or the National Executive Committee and hope to bluff your way out of such a brazen act by blaming and blackmailing the ruling Party for a misfortune deliberately stoked by you. Sorry, but the law is decided on facts and evidence, rather than sentiments and outrage…”

For those who may be late to the party, trouble started when some opposition politicians joined the ADC last year. Its national officers, led by Chief Ralph Nwosu, resigned. Mark became the chairman of the caretaker committee and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola the national secretary in July 2025. Two months later, Gombe filed an ex parte motion before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, saying he did not resign and asking that he be declared the authentic acting chairman following Nwosu’s resignation. He asked the court to stop the committee from “parading” themselves as national officers. The court did not grant the ex parte motion but asked Mark to file a defence.

However, Mark proceeded to the Court of Appeal to challenge the jurisdiction of the high court since the Supreme Court had ruled that a party’s internal affairs should not be determined by a court. Mark also appealed the order directing him to file a defence. The Court of Appeal told Mark that since the matter was still “live” at the high court, he needed leave of the same court to file an appeal, but Mark argued that it was a fundamental right and leave was not needed. Still, the appeal court dismissed the appeal, describing it as premature. The “status quo ante bellum” should be maintained, it further ruled. We started arguing over the meaning of “status quo ante bellum”.

Dissatisfied with the ruling by the Court of Appeal, Mark headed for the Supreme Court. He made the same argument: that the high court had no jurisdiction and that it ought not to have entertained Gombe’s interlocutory application. The apex court partly repeated what the appeal court said: that the matter was still “live” at the high court and Mark needed to seek leave of that court to file an appeal. What was the appeal exactly? The high court had yet to determine the substantive issues before it, so an appeal was not the appropriate course of action. Therefore, the high court must first rule on whether or not it has jurisdiction before Mark could file the kind of appeal he was pursuing.

After the Supreme Court verdict, Gombe’s lawyers asked for the case to be moved away from Nwite but Mark’s lawyers opposed the request, calling it “forum shopping”. In the meantime, Nwite was promoted to the Court of Appeal, and Lifu, whom the ADC did not fancy because of a previous adverse judgment against the party, was assigned to the case. Aregbesola filed a motion asking Lifu to step aside. So did the party’s welfare secretary, Nkemakolam Ukandu. Lifu dismissed the request. Ukandu also sued the National Judicial Council (NJC) and Justices John Tsoho and Lifu. The court struck out the suit and asked him to pay N50 million each to Tsoho and Lifu for failing to pursue it.

Where do I stand on this burning issue? The first thing I want to do is to implore the judiciary to tread carefully. Political tension is already rising ahead of the 2027 general election. Our judges must do everything possible and reasonable to avoid compounding the situation. They must not become part of the problem. The judges must act with restraint and a sense of responsibility in order protect this democracy. I am particularly worried that courts of equal jurisdiction are making contradictory pronouncements on similar cases. Something is terribly wrong and this has to stop. Am I suggesting that because a case is political, the judges should ignore the facts of the matter? No. Not exactly.

While I suspect that the way and manner Atiku and his allies took over the ADC left much to be desired, I am also of the opinion that you cannot abort a child that has been born, as Bashorun MKO Abiola would say. I am a journalist. I am not a lawyer. But I would argue that the Mark-led committee had been functioning with judicial backing. Indeed, on July 2, 2026, Justice Musa Liman of the Federal High Court upheld the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola as ADC leaders in a separate suit filed by Hon. Leke Abejide. He held that it complied with the party’s constitution and the electoral law. The party, therefore, was not acting without legal cover when it conducted the primaries.

The judges, I would add, must seriously consider the question of whether the injury allegedly suffered by Gombe can be remedied without invalidating every decision taken by the party and potentially disenfranchising millions of Nigerians who would ordinarily have the ADC as one of their electoral choices. That is a question worth examining within the limits of the law. As a layman (and I am ready to defer to superior argument), I do not think nullifying every action and every decision of the caretaker committee is the best way to give justice to Gombe, even if that was his prayer before the high court. His grievance can still be addressed through a pragmatic judicial pronouncement.

It is not my place to prescribe to the judges how they should do their job. That is above my pay grade. But I have a fundamental right to air my opinion on matters of national interest. Thus, it should go without saying that this case has to be disposed of quickly. This is what the National Assembly would call “a matter of urgent national importance”. Elections are just 10 weeks away. We do not have the luxury of time. The ADC contributed to the delay by prolonging the litigation through interlocutory appeals instead of allowing the high court to determine the substantive matter earlier. The ADC contributed to the delay by not allowing the high court to rule on the substantive matter.

The judiciary must uphold the law, but justice is not always served by adopting the most destructive remedy available. Where the law permits, courts should consider whether a remedy can address an established wrong without pointlessly undermining the rights of innocent parties and the electorate. To be clear, I am not suggesting that the judiciary should legitimise illegality or shield politicians from the consequences of their actions. That would be another way of undermining democracy. Rather, my appeal is that, in dispensing justice, our courts must also ensure that the remedy does not create a greater problem than the wrong it seeks to correct. Not everything that is lawful is expedient.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

ATIKU OR OBI?

My assumption all along is that if Mr Peter Obi had not left the ADC, the party would have had a very strong chance of unseating President Bola Tinubu in 2027. Splitting the opposition into two would only empower the APC, I argued. Hypothetically, if Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is eventually disqualified from the 2027 presidential race, as a Federal High Court has done pending appeal, will this benefit Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC)? For one, it will be an all-south affair and fears of the disruption of the power rotation understanding will be allayed. But I am unsure if Atiku’s supporters are transferable to Obi. There may be a recalibration along our other fault lines. Dicey.

SANUSI’S SHOT

Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, emir of Kano, has said President Tinubu deserves credit for bringing Nigeria’s economy back from the brink. He made specific reference to improvements in economic growth, the inflation rate, foreign reserves, and export diversification. “I’m not a fan of politicians, but we need to give credit to President Tinubu’s administration for bringing us back from the brink,” he said at an Oxford Global Think Tank conference. But he said something that Tinubu needs to seriously chew upon: “This government doesn’t express itself properly. It sees every suggestion and contribution it does not like as an attack, and it doesn’t have good spokespersons.” Exactly.

DOWN, NOT OUT

President Donald Trump was taught a political lesson by American voters in the midterm elections on Tuesday, with his Republican Party losing control of the Senate and the House of Representatives to the Democratic Party. It was mostly down to his meaningless and thoughtless war with Iran — which instigated energy inflation across the world and caused a cost of living crisis for billions, including Nigerians. But those who know Trump will not underrate the damage he can still cause in the remaining two years of his presidency. He can keep waging war against America’s friends and foes and use his veto to stall bills passed by the Congress. It is not yet Uhuru. After all, it is Trump. Erratic.

NO COMMENT

Senator Tahir Monguno, senate chief whip and senator representing Borno north, raised a motion on Tuesday seeking a review and enforcement of Nigeria’s bilateral air services agreement (BASA) with China to allow Nigerian airlines to operate direct flights to the Asian country. But it was something else that was troubling Senate President Godswill Akpabio: scarcity of private jets for campaigns. “Watch December and the confusion. Even the private airlines cannot handle. Common campaigns, we cannot see even private jets to hire,” said Akpabio, who makes an average of one outrageous statement per day. Meanwhile, poor Nigerians are busy crying over the price of garri. Wonderful.