The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of trying to weaken opposition parties, warning that the move could put Nigeria’s peace and stability at risk.
The party made the accusation while reacting to a Federal High Court judgment in Abuja that removed David Mark as its leader and nullified former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s emergence as its presidential candidate.
In a statement issued on Thursday and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC claimed the judgment was meant to stop Nigerians from freely choosing their leaders in the 2027 elections.
The party also questioned why the ruling came barely 24 hours after its presidential campaign rally in Sokoto, which attracted a massive crowd.
“We have reasons to believe that the judgment had long been written on this case. The Sokoto rally was simply a trigger that stampeded its delivery. Yesterday, Nigerians came out in their hundreds of thousands to demonstrate their support for the ADC and our promise of making life affordable for them. Today, they are being told that the party that they support and the candidates that they have supported at all levels could be erased by the stroke of a reckless judicial pen,” the statement read.
The ADC argued that the ruling affected thousands of its candidates, not just Atiku and Mark. It described the judgment as legally indefensible and vowed to challenge it through every available judicial process.
The party also cited a July 2, 2026, judgment by Justice Musa Liman of the same court, which it said recognised Mark’s leadership and directed INEC to acknowledge it.
It maintained that a court of equal authority could not overturn that decision.
The ADC said it was waiting for the Certified True Copy of Thursday’s judgment to understand its full details and implications.
It further accused the APC of using the courts to weaken opposition parties whenever they gained political support.
Warning the ruling party against pushing the country into trouble, the ADC challenged President Bola Tinubu and the APC to prove their popularity through free and fair elections.
