By Ehichioya Ezomon
The foundational, historical Latin legal maxim: “He who comes to equity must come with clean hands” or “Whoever comes into equity must be pure in his hands,” used in courts, including those in Nigeria and the United Kingdom and United States, is straightforward, and unambiguous.
“It dictates that a person seeking a court’s equitable relief (like an injunction or specific performance) cannot have engaged in fraud, bad faith, or wrongful conduct regarding the exact dispute they are bringing to court.” (Facebook·Ebele Lusheby Iwenofu Iyiegbu)
The division in the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its leadership’s unsuccessful search for legal sanction of alleged “inequitable conduct” of its affairs may scuttle the party’s chances in the January-February 2027 General Election.
The ADC, represented by its National Chairman and former Senate President David Mark, and National Secretary and ex-Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, wanted the Court of Appeal in Abuja to sanction its reported “bad faith, wrongful actions” in the party, but the court refused on July 13, 2026.
Having also failed in the case at the Federal High Court in Abuja against its caretaker committee, for conducting state congresses the ADC constitution mandates duly-elected state executive committees to so organise, the party is heading to the Supreme Court for a reversal of the rulings of the lower courts.
As reported by New Telegraph on July 13, 2026, seven members of the duly-elected and existing ADC state executive committees, including Don Norman Obinna, Johnny Tovie Derek, Obah C. Ehigiator, Hon. Olona Yinka, Dr Charles Idowu Omideji, Samuel Pam Gyang and Obianyo Patrick, on behalf of the state chairmen and state executive committees, sued to Abuja Federal High Court.
The defendants were the ADC; Sen. David Mark; Sen. Patricia Akwashiki; Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; and Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, sued on behalf of the Caretaker/Interim National Working Committee; and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The plaintiffs’ case is based on the decision of the caretaker committee to constitute committees that conducted state congresses, which they claimed contravened the ADC constitution that confers powers to organise state congresses on duly-elected organs.
In her judgment on April 29, 2026, trial Justice Joyce Abdulmalik held that neither the altered 1999 Constitution of Nigeria nor the ADC constitution empowers the Sen. Mark-led caretaker committee to appoint committees for state congresses, adding that since the state executive committees’ tenure remained valid, “only those elected structures could lawfully organise state congresses.”
Dissatisfied, the ADC appealed the judgment, maintaining its argument that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to try the matter that’s a domestic affair of the party, which needed to be reformed ahead of the 2027 election.
But in a split decision of two-to-one, the Court of Appeal – affirming the lower court’s judgment, which dismissed the argument that the matter was an internal affair of the ADC, and that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case – agreed that judicial intervention was necessary “because the dispute involved alleged constitutional breaches.”
As per Justice Okon Abang, who delivered the lead judgment, with Justice Donatus Okorowo concurring with the majority decision, the court held that, “Once a complaint before the court is anchored on a constitutional infraction, the shield of internal affairs drops and the veil is lifted for judicial intervention.”
Relying on the Supreme Court judgment on the leadership crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the court held that the ADC dispute couldn’t be classified as a mere domestic affair of a party, adding it’s necessary to intervene to “prevent anarchy and ensure the survival of democracy in Nigeria,” reports The Punch on July 13, 2026.
Delivering his minority judgment that aligned with the appellants’ position, presiding Justice Abba Mohammed held that the dispute concerned the internal affairs of a political party, and was therefore not justiciable, as the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
However, Justice Abang ruled there was no basis to overturn the judgment of trial Justice Abdulmalik, barring the Mark caretaker committee from interfering with the tenure and responsibilities of the ADC elected state executive committees.
Holding that the ADC national leadership had no responsibility for conducting state congresses, the court nullified the congresses and national convention conducted by the Mark executive, “having been held in defiance of a subsisting order issued by the Federal High Court on April 14 (2026).”
The court upheld the Federal High Court judgment that restrained INEC from recognising or participating in state congresses conducted by committees appointed by the Mark leadership, and awarded ₦10m in costs against the ADC.
The ADC, via its National Welfare Secretary, Nkem Ukandu, has signalled intention to challenge the appellate court decision at the Supreme, as it faces a possible disruption to its preparations for 2027, “including the validity of candidates that emerged from processes conducted by the Mark leadership.”
Background: Topshots of the Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP), headed by former Vice President and candidate of the ADC in 2027, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, came into the party in a manner resembling a hostile takeover of the structures. At a stakeholder meeting on July 2, 2025, in Abuja, the former executives, led by Chief Ralph Nwosu, resigned and handed over to Mark and Aregbesola as a caretaker/interim leadership.
While the meeting deliberated on the transition to the new-look ADC,” the July 29, 2025, 99th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, observed by INEC officials, served as the formal dissolution of the old executive, and swearing-in of the Mark caretaker committee.
As PREMIUM TIMES reported on July 2, 2026, the crisis in the ADC began after the resignation of the Nwosu executive, and emergence of the Mark NEC, which “divided the party and triggered multiple court cases challenging the legitimacy of the new leadership.”
A former national vice chairman of the ADC, Nafiu Bala Gombe, claiming the leadership under the party’s constitution, filed a suit that “reached the Supreme Court after the Appeal Court ordered parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the case.”
The Supreme Court, in a ruling – somehow a temporary relief to the ADC – set aside the Court of Appeal order, and returned the substantive suit to the Federal High Court, Abuja, for hearing, with the case reassigned to Justice Peter Lifu.
Another lawsuit filed on February 15, 2026, by an ADC member in the House of Representatives, Hon. Leke Abejide (Yagba Federal Constituency, Kogi State), challenged the emergence of the Mark leadership “in violation of the party’s constitution and the law.”
On July 2, 2026, Justice Musa Liman of the Abuja Federal High Court upheld the preliminary objections by the ADC, Nwosu, Mark and Aregbesola, and held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit “bordering on the internal affairs of a political party, making it non-justiciable.”
The judge held that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit, as “he failed to establish his rights that the emergence of the new leadership infringed upon,” and to exhaust ADC’s internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court, and resolved all three issues raised in the substantive suit in favour of the defendants.
Justice Liman held that the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola complied with the ADC constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 and the party’s rules, and awarded costs of N2m against Abejide in favour of each of the defendants, and N10m in costs against Abejide’s lawyer in accordance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
The ADC faces deregistration by INEC over failure to win a number of elections, to remain as a registered party. The Appeal Court has put on hold, pending determination of the substantive suit, the execution of an Abuja Federal High Court judgment for INEC to deregister the party (and four other parties), which would’ve prevented the ADC from transmitting the nomination forms of its candidates, including Atiku and his running mate, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, to INEC for processing for the 2027 poll.
Will the ADC find its way through the legal maze to the 2027 General Election? It can with “clean hands” of genuine reconciliation, to pacify aggrieved members to withdraw their cases in courts against the Mark leadership. The party’s egotistic and hubristic stalwarts have six months to put their house in order for their bold claim to the Presidency in January 2027!
• _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
