For ADC, a Bag of Mixed Blessings, By Simon Kolawole

You could feel the sigh of relief. Supporters of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) went wild with jubilation on Thursday on hearing the pronouncement of the Supreme Court. The apex court made two major pronouncements: one, that the feuding parties should go back to the federal high court for the hearing of the suit filed by Hon Nafiu Bala Gombe; two, that the Court of Appeal was wrong in granting a preservatory order to maintain “status quo ante bellum” in the appeal filed by Senator David Mark challenging the jurisdiction of the high court in the matter. The ADC leaders have joyfully described the Supreme Court ruling as a victory for “democracy”, “justice” and “the rule of law”.

Trouble started when some opposition politicians joined the ADC last year. The party’s national officers, led by Chief Ralph Nwosu, resigned. Mark became the chairman of the caretaker committee and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola the national secretary. That was in July 2025. Two months later, Gombe, the former national vice chairman, filed an ex parte motion at the federal high court asking that he be declared the authentic acting chairman with Nwosu’s resignation, arguing that he never resigned. He asked the court to stop members of the Mark-led committee from parading themselves as national officers of the party. The court did not grant the motion but asked Mark to file a defence.

Instead, Mark proceeded to the Court of Appeal to challenge the jurisdiction of the high court since the Supreme Court had previously ruled that a party’s internal affairs should not be determined by a court. We will return to this shortly. Mark also appealed the order of the high court 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 to seek leave of the same court to file an appeal, but the Mark team argued that it was a fundamental right and leave was not needed. Nevertheless, the appeal court dismissed the appeal, describing it as premature. The “status quo ante bellum” should be maintained, it further ruled.

From nowhere, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), headed by Joash Amupitan, a professor of law, took it upon itself to interpret “status quo ante bellum” as derecognising the Mark-led national officers — exactly what I thought the appeal court was trying to prevent in the first place to avoid an injurious action that could create a vacuum or a commotion. The Supreme Court had defined the meaning of “status quo ante bellum” in the past as “the state of things before hostilities began”. I would think hostilities began the day Gombe wrote to the INEC to repudiate his resignation. On that day, Mark was the chairman. Logically, I would say that was the “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 over a party’s internal affairs and that it ought not to have entertained Gombe’s interlocutory application. The apex court said exactly what the appeal court said: that the matter was still “live” at the high court and Mark needed to seek leave of the court to file an appeal. And what was the appeal exactly? The high court had yet to give any verdict, 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.

Contrary to what was widely circulated on social media as the “deep dive” into the Supreme Court ruling, there was no pronouncement restoring the Mark-led national officers. There was also no decision on jurisdiction. And there was no declaration directing the INEC to recognise Mark or anybody. What the apex court decided, in simple English, was that the high court should first determine whether or not it has jurisdiction. It also said the Court of Appeal was wrong to grant the preservatory order of “status quo ante bellum” — that is the job of the court of first instance on this matter. That said, I am quite relieved that the INEC has retraced its steps and re-recognised Mark.

While we are at it, it seems Nigerians are not paying attention to the judgment of another federal high court. On Wednesday, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in a separate case filed by members of the ADC, restrained the INEC from recognising or participating in any state congresses organised by a caretaker leadership of the party. She held that 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 congresses and the convocation of a national convention”. She said the Mark-led national caretaker body lacked the powers to appoint state caretaker committees to conduct congresses.

There is something of significance here. The Mark-led committee, as defendants, argued that the court lacked jurisdiction over party’s internal affairs — the same argument it made in the Gombe case. But Abdulmalik said: “Where there is an allegation of breach of constitutional or statutory provisions, the court has a duty to intervene.” Where a member alleges that the party’s constitution has been violated, she said, the court is bound to adjudicate. “Any argument that this court lacks jurisdiction on that basis fails,” she ruled, maintaining that parties must comply with their own constitutions, else courts can intervene if there is a breach of constitutional or statutory provisions.

If the high court takes a similar position in the Gombe/Mark case, that would not be good news to the ADC. To be fair to the Supreme Court, when it ruled in March 2025 that courts should not intervene in party’s internal affairs, it made exceptions — particularly on constitutional and statutory provisions. That is, where a political party fails to abide by its own constitution or tramples on the fundamental rights of its members, then the courts can adjudicate. The pronouncement of the Supreme Court was not as absolute as many commentators have been interpreting the landmark verdict, which was in the case of Senator Samuel Anyanwu and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Still, the explosion of joy among ADC supporters is an indication of how invested many Nigerians are in the democratic process. They want a system that gives them alternatives. I would say democracy is sweeter when there is competition, when there are multiple choices. The ADC leaders praised the Supreme Court to high heavens — which is what we normally do in Nigeria when things go our way. When things go the other way, we condemn and ridicule the system. I remember when the All Progressives Congress (APC) was the main opposition. Every election they lost was “rigged” and a “threat” to our “nascent” democracy. Every election they won was the “best” in human history.

In sum, what the ADC just got from the Supreme Court was a reprieve as the substantive case will still be heard by the high court. I am sure that whatever the outcome is, it will be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. Neither Gombe nor Mark would accept the verdict until finally decided by the apex court. What this means then is that we still have weeks and months of legal fireworks ahead. Sadly, time is running out. Except the Electoral Act is amended, the deadlines for the nomination of candidates for the elections are fast approaching. Until these cases are finally decided, the ADC will be dealing with uncertainty. The party is, put simply, still not out of the woods.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

COLD-BLOODED COPS

Although many of us have serious issues with social media for various reasons, I think we have to come to some form of agreement that it has also been a force for good. The ability of people on the streets to record the atrocities of law enforcement agents on video and make them go viral has done us a world of good. A police officer, Mr Nuhu Usman, was caught on video apparently fatally shooting Mene Ogidi, 28, who was allegedly caught with a gun. Ogidi had been arrested, with his hands tied to his back before he was killed in cold blood. Yet, the suspect needed to be alive to help police with investigation. Only God knows how many lives have been wasted by the police in this country. Evil.

DARK ALLEY

Those who held Mr Adebayo Adelabu responsible for erratic power must be celebrating now that he has resigned as minister. However, I have bad news for them: the power crisis is not about to be resolved. The problems are far deeper and wider than what a minister can resolve by fiat. Whereas we have improved our generation capacity over the years, our transmission infrastructure is both largely diseased and deficient, hence the frequent grid collapses. You can’t improve transmission overnight. The DisCos are also not investing enough to improve distribution, despite increased revenue. We have a long way to go, and I only hope the new team will finally break the jinx. Jolting.

SPOIL THEM YOUNG

A page from an English textbook allegedly being read in a nursery school in Ojo, Lagos state, contains expressions that are not only age-inappropriate but also quite upsetting for any parent who still has a sense of decorum in our society. Worse still, we have been told that the text was not approved by the state’s ministry of basic and secondary education, which says it has started investigating the episode. The publisher or author of the book has gone ahead to report the whistle-blower to police, and she has had to engage a lawyer to honour the invitation. How low can we really go in this country? It will be most gratifying if all the culprits are made to face the full weight of the law. Filthy.

NO COMMENT

Kenyan President William Ruto recently bragged that Kenyans speak better English than Nigerians. “You know our education is good, our English is good. We speak some of the best English in the world,” he said. “If you listen to a Nigerian speaking, you don’t know what they are saying — you need a translator even when they’re speaking English.” He later said he was misquoted — not before Nigerians and Kenyans had engaged in a vicious social media war over who can speak someone else’s language better. Meanwhile, the Chinese are busy manufacturing things and competing globally in science and tech without worrying about their ability to speak in a coloniser’s accent. Hahahaha…