The Supreme Court has set aside the order made by the Court of Appeal in Abuja ordering the maintenance of status quo ante bellum in the leadership dispute in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), on which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) acted in derecognising the David Mark-led leadership of the party.
In a unanimous judgment of a five-member panel, the apex court ordered parties to return to the Federal High Court for expeditious hearing of the case filed by an aggrieved chieftain of the party, Nafiu Bala Gombe, challenging, among others, the emergence of the Mark-led leadership of the party.
In the lead judgment, Justice Mohammed Garba held that the Court of Appeal had no business making a preservative order in respect of a case that was pending before the trial court, having determined the interlocutory appeal brought before it by Mark against the September 4 interlocutory decision of Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court.
The apex court held that the appeal that was filed before it by Senator Mark succeeded in part, even as it dismissed the aspect that challenged an ex parte order the Federal High Court made for service of processes in the suit filed by aggrieved members of the party.
The apex court directed the factions to return to the trial court for the continuation of the hearing of the case.
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