The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court (FHC), Justice John Tsoho, has reassigned the suit filed by Nafiu-Bala Gombe, a former National Deputy Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), to another judge for adjudication.
The case, which was previously before Justice Emeka Nwite, was on Friday reassigned to Justice Peter Lifu following Nwite’s recent elevation to the Court of Appeal.
The National Judicial Council (NJC), at its 111th meeting held on May 13, recommended the appointment of 12 new justices of the Court of Appeal, including Justice Nwite, to President Bola Tinubu for approval.
In the suit, Gombe is seeking an order restraining Sen. David Mark, the embattled National Chairman of the ADC; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the party’s National Secretary; and members of the interim National Working Committee (NWC) from parading themselves as leaders of the party.
He argued that the emergence of Mark, Aregbesola and other NWC members violated provisions of the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.
Gombe sued the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Ralph Nwosu as 1st to 5th defendants, respectively, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025.
Nwosu, the immediate past National Chairman of the ADC, had stepped down for Mark to assume leadership of the party.
Justice Nwite had, on April 14, adjourned the matter sine die following Gombe’s request to await the Supreme Court’s decision on an appeal filed by Mark.
However, the Supreme Court, on April 30, set aside the Court of Appeal’s order directing parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum in the ADC leadership dispute, an order upon which INEC acted in derecognising the Mark-led leadership of the party.
The apex court subsequently directed parties to return to the Federal High Court for accelerated hearing of the suit filed by Gombe.
When the matter came up on May 8 before Justice Nwite, Luka Haruna, SAN, counsel to Gombe, requested that the case be transferred to another judge, disclosing that a letter to that effect had already been written to the Chief Judge.
The request was, however, opposed by counsel to the ADC, Mark, Aregbesola and Nwosu.
ADC’s counsel, Rilwan Okpanachi; Suleiman Usman, SAN, representing Mark; Mohammed Sheriff, counsel to Aregbesola; and P.I. Oyewole, counsel to Nwosu, described the application as “an ambush” and “forum shopping.”
They argued that the application was aimed at frustrating the Court of Appeal’s directive for an accelerated hearing, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The defence lawyers also maintained confidence in the integrity and impartiality of Justice Nwite’s court, insisting that no incident had occurred to justify the transfer request.
According to them, the letter written to the Chief Judge amounted to “a fundamental breach of procedure.”
The lawyers, however, agreed that proceedings should be adjourned pending the availability of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court judgment to properly guide the trial court.
Justice Nwite subsequently adjourned the matter sine die pending the release of the CTC.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerged as the ADC presidential candidate on May 27 after defeating two other aspirants.
