The Supreme Court is expected to rule today on the leadership tussles in the African Democratic Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, a judgement that could redefine the two opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Recall that a in a new development that could complicate the ADC crisis, the Federal High Court on Wednesday restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission from recognising the ADC congresses conducted by the David Mark leadership pending the resolution of the internal disputes in the party.
The Supreme Court concluded its proceedings on the leadership crisis involving the ADC and PDP on April 22 but the five-member panel of the apex court presided over by Justice Mohammed Garba did not fix a date for judgment.
ADC case
As for the ADC, there is a row at the party over a lingering leadership crisis between Mark and an opposing group led by Nafiu Gombe. Mark is appealing a ruling by the Court of Appeal on March 12 that parties should keep the status quo in the leadership tussle. He argued that the appellate court had overstepped its authority, claiming that the issue was an internal party matter and not subject to judicial review.
The respondents, the ADC, its National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, the INEC and former National Chairman Ralph Nwosu, urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal, arguing that the lower court acted within its jurisdiction.
PDP case
On the other hand, the battle within the PDP is between the camp of the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde and the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, an ally of President Bola Tinubu. The legal battle emanated from the holding of the PDP national convention in Ibadan last year that produced the Turaki-led national executive.
Austin Nwachukwu and two other leaders of the PDP had taken the national executive led by Ambassador Iliya Damagum to Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, over alleged failure to comply with the party’s guidelines and the Electoral Act in the conduct of the PDP convention, while the former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, had taken the party before Justice Peter Lifu of the same Federal High Court, to challenge his exclusion from the convention.
The founding National Chairman of ADC, Ralph Nwosu, told members of the party that without the party on the ballot, elections will not take place in 2027. Nwosu also said the opposition party had already secured the necessary statistics and figures to take over from the incumbent President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Reactions
Nwosu, while speaking yesterday in Abuja at the party’s national secretariat during the ADC Youths Champion and Prospective Legislative Summit, organised by the office of the National Youth Leader, said the party has recorded phenomenal achievements in the coalition.
“The culture in place is dirty. It’s very difficult to change the culture but we will continue working very hard to do so once we are determined. You don’t need a million people to do it, you just need a few determined minds”, he stated.
“With the number we have today in ADC, what we have achieved by the coalition is phenomenal and no matter how anybody thinks they can knock this down, they cannot.
“To knock this down will be almost as knocking our democracy down and God will not allow that. We have put enough strategies in place to ensure that it doesn’t happen.
“But what you may hear happening and see happening now, when people in power, especially in the Third World countries, people who love impunity and feel that they can play God, when they are in power they would try everything, especially when it’s clear to them that their time is over.
“The time is over for Tinubu politically, and he must go. The time is over for Akpabio (Senate President), and they must go.”
