JUST IN: S’Court docket Reserves Judgment on David Mark’s Attraction Over ADC Management Disaster
The Supreme Court docket of Nigeria on Wednesday reserved judgment in an enchantment filed by the Nationwide Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), David Mark, difficult the jurisdiction of courts to intervene within the inside affairs of the occasion.
A five-member panel of the apex court docket, led by Justice Garba Mohammed, fastened judgment for a later date after counsel for all events adopted their briefs for and towards the enchantment.
Counsel to Mark, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, urged the court docket to permit the enchantment, arguing that the apex court docket had already settled the difficulty in a March 21, 2025 judgment, the place it held that “no court docket has jurisdiction to entertain instances bordering on inside affairs of political events.”
He subsequently maintained that the Abuja Federal Excessive Court docket lacked jurisdiction to listen to the go well with regarding the ADC’s inside issues.
Nonetheless, counsel to the primary respondent, Nafiu Gombe, Robert Emukpero, SAN, requested the court docket to dismiss the enchantment and uphold the choice of the decrease court docket, which dominated that Mark’s case was untimely.
Earlier, the Court docket of Attraction had dismissed Mark’s problem to the jurisdiction of the Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja, presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite, describing the enchantment as untimely and filed with out the depart of the trial court docket.
The appellate court docket subsequently directed that the case be returned to the trial court docket for accelerated listening to and ordered events to keep up the established order.
Following that directive, the electoral physique withdrew recognition of the ADC management led by Mark pending the end result of the case.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Mark approached the Supreme Court docket to problem each the appellate court docket’s choice and the order implementing the established order.
After listening to arguments from each side, Justice Garba Mohammed introduced that judgment had been reserved, with a date to be communicated to the events.