The Supreme Court has fixed April 22 for the hearing of an appeal filed by the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), David Mark, in the ongoing leadership dispute within the party.

The case is an appeal arising from a suit filed by Nafiu Bala, a former deputy national chairman of the party.

A five-member panel of justices of the apex court, led by Justice Lawal Garba, fixed the date after all parties in the matter adopted their processes.

In the appeal marked SC/CV/180/2026, Mark, a former Senate President, is seeking an order staying the execution of the Court of Appeal judgement delivered on March 12, which dismissed his earlier appeal.

The Court of Appeal had ruled against Mark in relation to the internal leadership crisis of the ADC, effectively upholding a lower court decision.

Mark had earlier challenged a September 4, 2025, ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja, delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite, which declined to grant certain injunctive reliefs sought in an ex parte application filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a party chieftain.

However, in its judgement in appeal CA/ABJ/CV/145/2026, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, upheld a preliminary objection raised by Gombe’s legal team, led by Luka Musa Haruna, SAN, holding that the appeal was incompetent and raised issues not derived from the trial court’s ruling.

Supreme Court fixes April 22 for hearing in ADC leadership dispute