…Fresh legal earthquake rocks opposition party as court ruling threatens Atiku-Amaechi ticket, deepens bitter leadership war and plunges ADC into fresh turmoil just months before presidential election
By the G&B Journal Correspondents
THUR NOV 05 2026-theGBJournal| Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s ambition to return to Aso Rock has suffered a potentially devastating setback after a Federal High Court in Abuja reportedly invalidated the leadership structure of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) under former Senate President David Mark and voided the party’s presidential primary that produced him as its candidate for the 2027 election.
In a judgment that threatens to unravel the opposition party’s carefully assembled presidential platform, the court upheld the claims of aggrieved party chieftain Nafiu Bala Gombe, effectively striking at the legitimacy of the Mark-led leadership and decisions taken under its authority.
The ruling could have far-reaching consequences for Atiku, whose name has already appeared on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) published list of presidential candidates, alongside former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, his chosen running mate.
The court’s decision potentially leaves the ADC facing an extraordinary political and legal predicament: the party’s presidential candidate and running mate have been listed by the electoral commission, but the process that produced their ticket has now been invalidated by a court.
Atiku emerged victorious at the ADC presidential primary in May, defeating Amaechi and economist Mohammed Hayatu-Deen. Amaechi subsequently accepted the vice-presidential nomination, completing what the party presented as its presidential ticket for the 2027 contest.
But that ticket is now facing a major legal challenge.
The judgment followed a suit instituted by Nafiu Bala Gombe, who challenged the legitimacy of the leadership structure installed under Mark and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
Gombe argued that following the resignation of the party’s former National Chairman, Chief Ralph Nwosu, he was constitutionally entitled to assume leadership of the ADC.
He challenged the circumstances surrounding the emergence of the Mark-led leadership, insisting that the process violated the party’s constitution and relevant provisions of the Electoral Act.
In the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, Gombe asked the court to nullify decisions taken by the Mark-led leadership and restrain Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as National Chairman and National Secretary of the party, respectively.
The defendants included the ADC, INEC, Mark, Aregbesola and Nwosu.
The plaintiff specifically challenged the authority of the Mark-led leadership to make decisions on behalf of the party, a dispute that has now escalated into a potentially existential crisis for the opposition platform.
The court reportedly upheld Gombe’s claims and granted the reliefs sought, bringing the legitimacy of the party’s leadership and the decisions taken under it into serious question.
Among the affected decisions is the presidential primary that produced Atiku as the ADC’s flag bearer.
For Atiku, the timing could hardly be worse.
The former Vice-President has spent months positioning himself as a major opposition challenger to President Bola Tinubu in the January 16, 2027 presidential election.
The ADC was expected to provide the political machinery and national platform for that challenge, particularly amid efforts to consolidate opposition forces against the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Now, the legal foundation of that arrangement has been thrown into uncertainty.
Although INEC has published Atiku and Amaechi on its final list of presidential and vice-presidential candidates, the court’s reported nullification of the process that produced their nominations raises serious questions about the validity and survival of the ticket.
The immediate implications will depend on the precise terms of the judgment, the steps taken by the ADC and the outcome of any appeal.
But the political damage is already potentially enormous.
Atiku faces the prospect of fighting a presidential election while his party battles over who legitimately controls its leadership, who has the authority to make decisions and whether its presidential nomination can withstand judicial scrutiny.
The ruling is another major blow to an opposition party already heavily embroiled in internal disputes.
The leadership battle between Gombe and the Mark-led faction has dragged through the courts, exposing deep divisions within a party that had been positioning itself as a credible alternative to the Tinubu administration.
The dispute has also involved questions over the authority of the party’s former leadership and the circumstances surrounding the transfer of power to Mark and his allies.
The latest judgment threatens to deepen those divisions and potentially trigger another round of political manoeuvring, legal challenges and competing claims to the party’s leadership.
For a party seeking to challenge an incumbent president, the spectacle of a leadership crisis threatening its own presidential ticket is an unwelcome distraction.
The ADC has vowed to challenge the judgment at the appellate court.
The party’s National Welfare Secretary, Nkemakolam Ukandu, who was joined as an interested party in the proceedings, reportedly confirmed that the leadership would appeal the decision.
That appeal could become a defining legal battle for the party, with the survival of its current leadership structure and Atiku’s presidential nomination potentially hanging in the balance.
The ruling comes at a particularly sensitive moment, with the 2027 presidential election scheduled for January 16 and Atiku already stepping up his campaign activities.
The former Vice-President now faces a battle on two fronts: taking on Tinubu politically while confronting a potentially crippling legal crisis within the party expected to deliver him to the presidency.
For the ADC, the danger is even more fundamental.
A party that set out to unite opposition forces and offer Nigerians an alternative to the ruling party now risks being consumed by its own leadership war.
And with its presidential ticket caught in the crossfire, the question is no longer simply who controls the ADC.
It is whether the party can put its house in order before the 2027 election — and whether Atiku can still rely on it to prosecute his presidential ambition.
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