Leadership crisis: Anxiety as Supreme Court hears PDP, ADC appeals today

By: Abudu Olalekan

All eyes are on the Supreme Court today. The country’s top court is set to hear appeals from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) over leadership battles that have left both opposition parties in limbo.

The court had already signaled how serious it takes this. On April 14, it adjourned the cases to today and granted accelerated hearing in both appeals.

For the PDP, the fight is coming from the Turaki faction. They’re challenging a Court of Appeal ruling from Abuja that upheld earlier Federal High Court decisions nullifying the PDP convention held in Ibadan in November 2025—where Turaki emerged as national chairman.

Now, the Turaki camp is asking the Supreme Court to stop the Wike-aligned group from going ahead with its planned convention, which was originally slated for March 29 and 30, 2026. Their core argument is simple: the courts shouldn’t be meddling in what they say are the internal affairs of a political party, and that such disputes are non-justiciable.

At the last sitting, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, who leads the appellant’s team, pressed hard for speed. He told the court the matter is urgent and could reshape the party’s leadership structure. He also said a motion on notice, backed by an affidavit of extreme urgency, had been filed to justify fast-tracking the case.

Paul Erokoro, SAN, also came in for the ADC side and asked for accelerated hearing too. The respondents didn’t object—but they did ask for five days to file their responses.

The court agreed. It ordered all necessary processes to be filed within five days, ahead of today’s hearing. It also told parties that all filings must be completed on or before April 21 (Tuesday), and then adjourned to today for the main hearing.

Not everyone was thrilled with the timeline, though. Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, counsel for one of the respondents, didn’t oppose the motion, but raised procedural concerns—saying his team had only been served three days earlier. Ordinarily, he said, they’d need 15 days, but they could manage within 10 days given the circumstances.

Others lined up behind that. Kingsley Magin, for INEC, asked for 10 days to respond. E.R. Gold, representing the sixth respondent, also asked for 10 days. Audu Anuga, SAN, for the eighth and ninth respondents, didn’t oppose at all.

In fact, nearly all the respondents went along with the request—except Abdulrahman Mohammed, the PDP chairman backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. He wasn’t in court, and no lawyer showed up for him.

Justice Lawal Garba, who led a five-member panel, said the court was persuaded by the affidavit of extreme urgency and the submissions made by counsel. In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court declared: “We find it expedient to grant these requests,” and ordered the respondents to file within five days, with an extra two days allowed for replies where needed.

The ADC case: another high-stakes fight
It’s not just the PDP. The ADC matter is just as tense.

Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, counsel for the ADC, asked for time to be abridged. The court obliged, granted accelerated hearing, and adjourned to today for the appeal filed by the David Mark-led faction against Nafiu Bala, a former deputy national chairman of the party.

In appeal SC/CV/180/2026, Mark is asking the Supreme Court to stay the execution of the Court of Appeal’s March 12 judgment, which dismissed his appeal tied to the party’s leadership dispute. He’s named Nafiu Bala Gombe, ADC, Rauf Aregbesola, INEC, and Chief Ralph Nwosu as first to fifth respondents.

Mark’s lawyer, Realwan Okpanachi, also wants the court to stop INEC from acting on the Appeal Court’s judgment by recognising anyone other than him and the existing ADC national officers. He’s also seeking orders to preserve the party’s leadership structure as it stands, and to halt further proceedings in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025 before Justice Emeka Nwite at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The Court of Appeal’s ruling (CA/ABJ/CV/145/2026), led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, had upheld an objection that Mark’s appeal was incompetent because it was based on issues not reflected in the trial court’s ruling.

And you can feel the suspense inside the party. On Monday, ADC National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi tried to calm nerves, insisting the party was not in talks with the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) or planning to abandon the ADC.

“The coalition leadership is not having any such conversation with any political party at the moment,” he said. “We are committed to ensuring that the illegal action taken against our leadership by INEC and other agents of the ruling party is upturned. We believe that this is the only path to safeguarding the rule of law… Any suggestion that we are considering abandoning the ADC is preemptive and speculative, and should be ignored.”

Still, the damage has already been real. After the Court of Appeal decision, INEC said it would not recognise any leadership group in the party and removed Mark’s and Aregbesola’s names as chairman and secretary from its website. That move pushed the Mark-led group straight to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, in a separate ruling tied to the ADC appeal, also ordered Okutepa to file the appellant’s brief and serve it by Wednesday, while respondents must file and serve within three days of being served. Mark’s appeal is against the March 12 Court of Appeal judgment, which upheld the September 4, 2025, ruling by Justice Nwite refusing some injunctive reliefs sought by Nafiu Bala Gombe.

This Supreme Court decision is widely expected to be the one that finally settles—or at least sharply narrows—the leadership crisis. After all, heavyweights like Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Nasir El-Rufai, Rauf Aregbesola, Rotimi Amaechi, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, and John Odigie-Oyegun had all thrown their weight behind the ADC as the coalition platform for 2027. David Mark took over the party’s leadership in July 2025 after the resignation of the former executives led by Chief Ralph Nwosu—only for Nafiu Bala to challenge it in court, with INEC later joining as the fourth defendant.

For now, everyone’s waiting. Today’s hearing could decide who truly holds the keys to the ADC—and whether the PDP can even hold its convention without another legal roadblock.