ADC vs Nafiu Gombe: Aregbesola asks judge to withdraw from suit

O gbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has asked Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja to recuse himself from the party’s leadership crisis suit recently reassigned to him. Aregbesola’s application came just hours before the scheduled hearing of the suit filed by Mr. Nafi’u Bala Gombe. The suit seeks to stop the Senator David Mark-led leadership of the ADC from parading themselves as valid leaders of the party. Justice Lifu had fixed Wednesday for the hearing after the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, reassigned the matter to him. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the case, filed by Gombe, the aggrieved former National Deputy Chairman of the ADC, was previously before Justice Emeka Nwite of a sister court. The matter was reassigned to Justice Lifu after Justice Nwite was nominated among the 12 new justices whose names were sent to President Bola Tinubu for elevation to the Court of Appeal. Meanwhile, Aregbesola, in a motion on notice dated June 1 and filed on June 2, asked Justice Lifu to withdraw from the case and transfer the suit back to the Chief Judge for reassignment to another judge. The ADC National Secretary, through his counsel, Mohammed Sheriff, cited a lack of confidence in the judge across a seven-ground argument. He submitted that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) guarantees every litigant a fair hearing before an independent and impartial panel. Gombe, in the suit, is seeking an order restraining Senator Mark, the embattled National Chairman of the ADC; Aregbesola, the National Secretary; and members of their interim National Working Committee (NWC) from parading themselves as the party’s leaders. He argued that the emergence of Mark, Aregbesola, and other NWC members as party leaders breached the provisions of the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act. Gombe sued the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Chief Ralph Nwosu as the 1st to 5th defendants, respectively, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025. Nwosu is the former ADC National Chairman who stepped down for the David Mark-led leadership of the party. NAN reports that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerged as the ADC presidential candidate on May 27 after defeating two other aspirants, including former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, at the party’s national convention. Concurrently, Dumebi Kachikwu emerged as the presidential candidate for the 2027 general election at a national convention conducted by a rival faction of the ADC. Kachikwu, who was the party’s 2023 flagbearer, was adopted by the factional members as their sole presidential candidate on May 24. (NAN)