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.
The court, in a unanimous judgment of a five-member panel, 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.
Justice Mohammed Garba, in the lead judgment, 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.