Is Nigeria's democracy on trial again? That's the question tonight after a court sacked the entire ADC leadership.

So, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Peter Lifu has just sacked the Senator David Mark-led National Working Committee of the ADC and, in one stroke, invalidated the candidacy of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

The ADC is not holding back. In a fiery statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party called it a desperate plot by the ruling APC to cripple the opposition and set Nigeria on fire ahead of the 2027 general elections.

And the timing? The ADC says it stinks. The judgment landed barely 24 hours after their massive presidential rally in Sokoto, where, they claim, hundreds of thousands turned up.

“We have reasons to believe that the judgment had long been written. The Sokoto rally was simply a trigger,” Abdullahi said.

Look beyond Atiku and David Mark. This isn't just about big names. If this judgment stands, it could wipe out thousands of ADC candidates, from councillors to governorship hopefuls, who have spent months campaigning. It’s about the ordinary Nigerian voter being told the party they queued for might no longer exist on the ballot.

The ADC says the ruling makes no legal sense. Why? Because there is already a subsisting judgment. On 2nd July 2026, Justice Musa Liman of the same Federal High Court, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, affirmed the David Mark leadership and ordered INEC to recognise it.

It’s a settled principle in Nigeria: a court of equal rank cannot sit on appeal over another. You can’t nullify it. You can only appeal it.

We’ve seen this script before in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, from the 2003-2007 gale of judicial ousters to the post-2019 deregistration battles. Whenever opposition momentum builds, the courts become the new battleground. The worry is always the same: using technicalities to eliminate competition instead of facing voters.

What now? The ADC says it rejects the ruling outright and will challenge it through every judicial window. They are waiting for the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment to see its full orders.

Their message to the APC: “Do not play with fires you cannot control. Nigeria belongs to Nigerians, not to the APC.”

For now, the party is telling its members to stay calm and law-abiding.

This will be fought at the Court of Appeal. And INEC will be watching very closely.

Credit: cbinews.tv

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