Headline

The Apalara Murder Mystery: Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara (1918 -1953)

Published

6 years ago

December 2, 2020

Eric

By Hon Femi Kehinde

Murder is as old as mankind. Cain, because of a jealous rage, killed his brother Abel, according to the book of Genesis in the Bible. In exact similitude, Qabil and Habil, believed by Moslems, to have been the first two sons of Adam and Eve, just like Cain and Abel in the Bible, also suffered the same fate.

Adam asked both of them to present a sacrifice to Allah. Allah accepted Habil’s sacrifice and rejected Qabil’s, so he envied Habil and in a jealous rage too, killed him.

In criminal jurisprudence, it was almost a hard nut to crack, to sustain a murder conviction, without the discovery of the murdered person’s corpse- “Corpus delicti”.

In Apalara’s murder case, eleven accused persons were convicted and sentenced to death, for the murder of Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara, on the 3rd of January, 1953 at the Oko Baba area of Ebute-Metta, Lagos.
Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara, was born in Itoko, a town in the outskirts of Abeokuta. He had Quaranic studies and elementary education, before he went to Lagos to work as a carpenter.

In Lagos, Bisiriyu lived in Mushin – a settlement that was then known, as the home of street urchins and miscreants. In Mushin, Apalara lived a rough life and was involved in several negative aspects of a street life. In 1945, Apalara was imprisoned on the charges of theft. By 1950, like the conversation or the transformation of Saul to Paul, on the way to Damascus, in the Bible, Apalara had gone through a transformation.
He started praying regularly and fasting. He bade farewell to his past and also divorced his wife, so as to remove anything relating to the negative aspects of his past in Mushin.

In 1950, Apalara launched an Islamic crusade. The crusade was usually held in Ebute Metta or Mushin, usually at a street, or an intersection of two or three streets. Apalara became an articulate preacher and had a large followerships, majority of which were women. His preaching focused on condemning idolatry worships, lukewarm practice of Islamic Religion and vehemence against traditional cults, most especially, Agemo, Awo Opa, Egungun and Oro cults.

He became very noticeable and popular, and earned respect from the Muslim community, and was turbaned as the foremost preacher of a mosque in the Lagos Mainland. He was vicious in his preaching. In 1951, Apalara started having conflicts with the local cults and masquerades in Mushin.

During one of Apalara’s open air sermons, a cult and its masquerades, on its way to perform traditional rites, attempted to pass through one of its crusades, but they were blocked by Apalara’s congregation, at the insistence of Apalara. The standoff lasted a few minutes, and the cults and the Masquerades’ re-treated.

In 1952, a similar situation occurred which led to the exchange of blows and fisticcups, between a masquerade group and Apalara’s supporters.

Henceforth, he received constant threats to his life. Bisiriyu knew the secrets of the secret cults and according to him, “the emptiness of its faith”. Converts are usually hardened people.

On the evening of January 3rd, 1953, Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara, preached for the last time in his life, against the secret cults that he had hated, so passionately and later that night, he was murdered with an axe and died at the age of 35 years, at the peak of his life.

For that murder, 11 men were hanged on May 26, 1954. In the past, Apalara had frequently been warned. The Oro adherents believed that Apalara had exposed them and ridiculed their beliefs.
He had been frequently warned of the perils of denouncing and mocking their secret organization, so he had to pay the price for his determination, to speak his mind.

Shortly after his preaching on January 3rd 1953, some men, ambushed the Islamic preacher at Tapa Street in Ebute-Metta and attacked him with cutlasses. They left him to die and thereafter, dumped his body into the Lagoon.
During the trial, a prosecution witness said the murderers, put his body in a canoe and took his body to an unknown destination across the Lagoon. It was also generally believed that his body was put in a canoe, that evening and was thrown overboard with a stone tied to his neck, some few kilometers away from Tapa Street, Ebute-Metta, Lagos.

Detective Sergeant John Aboderin, who was investigating the case, came up with some interesting facts.

One night, while he was sleeping, he heard a tapping on the window. Then came a secret society password: whoever it was, the man outside was one of the brotherhood. The unknown midnight police informant, still remained a mystery. It was West Africa’s most sensational murder trial of it’s time.
“I know something you want- something you’re looking for” came from the other side of the window. The Detective Sergeant threw aside the blankets, swung his legs off the bed. “Don’t come to the window or put on the light. If you do, I shall disappear.”

From his bedside, the detective took his note book and pencil. “All right, talk on” he whispered back- “I know that who killed Apalara” said the voice and made the detective swear by heaven and earth, he would in no way disclose how he had received his information.

The man mentioned fifteen names and disclosed the name and address of one important person, who was not connected to the murder, but knew everyone in it.

He then related how Apalara had been killed with a machete at Number 8, Tapa Ebutte Metta, carried to the Lagoon, foreshore and dumped in a canoe.

The Detective Sergeant said: “one secret password spoken by the night visitor, not only revealed to me that this man was a member of the secret Awo-Opa Cult- to which I also belong- but convinced me that he knew what he was talking about.”
“To this day, I do not know who he was or why he risked his life to tell me these things- He has never returned for thanks or reward,” according to the Detective Sergeant.

From there, Detective Sergeant Aboderin went to Number 8, Tapa street and made a thorough examination of the area. His conviction of the night callers, honestly was confirmed when he discovered blood stains.

“I followed the trail of blood which led me to the foreshore. There I found quite a pool of blood and what last bit of doubt I had, that I was on the right trail disappeared; but it was the fact that the gruesome incident had arisen from an open conflict with a secret society- the ancient Oro cult- which raised a storm, which was to make this the most sensational crime in the annals of Nigerian criminology – and which posed a problem for Detective Sergeant Aboderin for he was an unabashed member of the cult.

“As a police officer, would I betray the police to the cult? I have no such dilemma. There never has been any conflicts between the true ideals of the cults and the mission of the police and that is why I was able to maintain my membership of both.”

As the court later found, Apalara’s murder, resulted from a conflict with the Oro cult. But it was only a wing of it. The Muslim preacher was treading dangerously on the toes of a section of the members of the ancient cult. He threatened their exposure, for they were prostituting the powers of the cult, frightening people from the streets, whenever they wanted to carry out their smuggling or burglary expeditions. And the late Alfa Apalara knew it. He was a dangerous firebrand and had to be expiated at all costs. The Awo Opa cults of the Yorubas, is a very ancient society, known amongst devotees, as Ijinla Olokun and to the outside world as Awo Opa.

“what is not generally known to the public is that even within the Oro society itself, there are cabinets and inner cabinets of oaths. The innermost cabinets operates in complete secrecy from the inner one and so on” Aboderin said.

“It is often quite easy for new rotten branches to stem from the main trunk. And it can be appreciated that even within that section there are many members who are not party to, if cognizant of, the corrupt and often criminal practices of the inner circle. I was able to convince the cults that I was out to help them break the crime ring and to clear the good name of the cults.

“This is how the notorious wing of the Okobaba men operated that night. Apalara had no chance of escape as all routes – four of them – had been securely barred by the gangsters. They wore loin clothes and were otherwise stark naked, to make escape easy and leave no blood stains.

“At the given Oro signal, they threw off their covering clothes and approached the scene of the murder stark naked. Even juveniles were employed in collecting the cover clothes, and in minor roles near the scene of the crime. Thus the gangsters were able to make a clean getaway, leaving as they believed, no clues behind them. The canoe-men who had been hired for the operation then refuses to carry the dead body- it would leave stains on the bottom of their canoe. In the delay, the blood from the hideous cuts left me one of my most valuable clues on the foreshore.

“Another factor that aroused so much interest during the trial, was speculation as to why the body of Apalara was never found. The jury themselves attached great significance to a well-known maxim specifically attached to the Oro cult from time immemorial. That is- “a ki ri ajeku Oro”, literally meaning, “no one is ever expected to see the leftover of the Oro,” the detective sergeant went on.

“This tradition arose a long time ago, when a certain rich man, not a member, desired to be taken to the meeting place of the Oro men- usually deep in the forest and secluded from prying eyes. He sought to know their secret.

“He was escorted there, but has never been seen since. And it has been the tradition of the Oro people never to leave any traces of food or anything behind at their meeting spot.

“In keeping with this tradition, the body of the late Apalara was cut up into little pieces and thrown piece by piece into the lagoon from a moving canoe.

“But remember, it was to true, honest members of the various cults that I owed almost all the clues, which ultimately brought eleven men to a just death.”
The incidence that occurred on the evening of January 3rd, 1953 on Tapa Street, Ebute-Metta Lagos, led to the arrest of several persons linked to the crime and they were charged with Apalara’s murder.

The first accused person, was Joseph Ogundipe. There were also other accused persons, including two Oteka brothers, who were tried by Justice De Comarmond and a Jury at the Lagos High Court, who found them guilty of killing the deceased. It was a case rooted in circumstantial evidence. The trial judge in his summing up, with the evidence of the victim’s death said:

“His belongings were found in his house and he has never been seen again and we have got the evidence of the blood (which was human) which was found leading from that place, Tapa Street to the foreshore. The hearing of the case took approximately five weeks at the end of which the jury delivered their unanimous verdict of guilty against each of the accused persons. They were thus condemned to death, for the murder of a person whose body was not found.

The convict, dissatisfied with the judgment of the court, lodged a Notice of Appeal at the West African Court of Appeal (WACA). The Appellants urged WACA to quash their convictions. At the hearing of the Appeal, Mr. Ali Balogun appeared for the first Appellant, Mr. A. Tejuoso, whom the popular Tejuoso market, Yaba was named after, appeared for the 3rd, 7th, 8th and 11th Appellants.
Mr. G.B.A Coker for the second, fourth and ninth Appellants and Mr. Tejuoso led Mr. Coker for fifth and sixth Appellants; the tenth Appellant argued his own case and the Crown was represented by Mr. Madarikan- who later became a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

The case of the appellants who relied heavily on the ground of appeal was that the verdict of the lower court was unreasonable and against the weight of evidence. The appellants also complained that the Judge did not direct the jury properly, on the possibility of returning a verdict of manslaughter.
Delivering judgment, the WACA said “we have examined the evidence against each appellant, with anxious care and are satisfied that there are evidence against each one of them, upon which the jury could properly, come to the conclusion they did.”

The court said the evidence in each case was carefully and fairly dealt with, by the trial Judge in his summing up to the jury, who had the advantage of seeing and hearing the witnesses, and there is in our view, nothing which would justify our interfering with the verdict of the jury, in any one of the cases, on the ground of appeal in question.

The WACA held that it was unable to agree with the appellants, that the trial Judge failed to direct the jury properly as to the nature of evidence required in the absence of corpus delicti.

According to the court – “It appears to us that there was ample evidence, if accepted by the jury as it clearly was, that Apalara died on the night of the 3rd of January, 1953, as a result of injuries inflicted upon him, and we are of the opinion, that this aspect of the matter was clearly and adequately put to the jury, by the trial Judge, when he summed up the case to them.

The WACA noted that the appellants’ lawyers, also argued that the trial Judge erred in leaving the question whether the seventh witness called by the prosecution, Yesufu Aka, was an accomplice, to the jury, and in the absence of corroboration of his evidence, the jury ought not to have convicted some of the appellants.

But the court declared that there was no substance in this complaint, even as it held that the prosecution had proved in the court below that the 10th Appellant, accused No. 19, was at the scene of the crime on January 3, 1953.

It said “the accused denied that the statement he was alleged to have given to the police, exhibit C1 was a voluntary one. He denied attending the meeting held at the Bale’s house on the 2nd of January, 1953 or being at the scene of the crime on the night of the 3rd of January, 1953 and there was ample evidence, obviously accepted by the jury, showing his complicity in the crime.
”for these reasons we are .of the opinions, that there is no substance in any of the appeals and they, therefore, dismissed.”

In effect, the WACA affirmed the conviction of the appellants and the death sentence passed on them. The men were actually executed on May 27, 1954.

Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara, a notable Nigerian Muslim Cleric of his time, in the early 1950s and who held a series of crusades and Dawha in Ebute-Metta and Mushin area of Lagos, with a common theme of speaking out against traditional Yoruba cults, such as Oro, Awo Opa and Egungun and drawing more adherents of Traditional African Religion to Islam, may your soul and undiscovered corpse, continually find peaceful repose with the Almighty Allah.

HON. (BARR.) FEMI KEHINDE IS A
FORMER MEMBER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, ABUJA,
REPRESENTING AYEDIRE/IWO/OLAOLUWA FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY OF OSUN STATE (1999-2003)
&
PRINCIPAL PARTNER, FEMI KEHINDE & CO (SOLICITORS)
IBADAN OFFICE- NO 84, IWO ROAD, IBADAN.
LAGOS OFFICE – PLOT A, OLUWALOGBON MOTORS BUILDING, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO WAY, IKEJA,
LAGOS.
ABUJA OFFICE – NO 8, SUEZ CRESCENT, IBRAHIM ABACHA ESTATE,WUSE ZONE 4, ABUJA, FCT.

Headline

Mary Habila’s Death: Tinubu Has Failed Comprehensively, Disgracefully – Atiku

Published

19 hours ago

July 16, 2026

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

A former Vice President, and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has lashed out at the administration of President Bola Tinubu over its prolonged silence on the death of a medical practitioner, Mary Habila, who died at the residence of the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi.

Atiku condemned the inability of the Tinubu-led government from making any pronouncements or instituting any form of probe to unravel the cause of death since the sad incident occurred on June 27, 2026, saying the administration has failed comprehensively and disgracefully.

Atiku’s remarks are contained in a statement he released on his social platforms endorsed with his regular AA.

While not casting any blame on any particular person or entity, Atiku maintained that condolences are not enough,but must be accompanied by thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to the death of the 26 years old medical practitioner in her prime.

The former Vice President therefore called for a “credible, independent, and transparent investigation” to establish the truth, noting that “it is the refusal of the Federal Government to guarantee such an investigation that constitutes the scandal before us”.

The statement in full:

I have followed with deep sorrow and mounting concern the reports surrounding the death of Miss Mary Habila, a 26-year-old Nigerian from Nok, Southern Kaduna, who died on June 27, 2026, within the private residence of the Honourable Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, in Uburu, Ebonyi State.

First, I extend my heartfelt condolences to the Habila family. No family should have to mourn a daughter taken in the prime of her life while also fighting simply to learn the truth of how she died.

But condolences are not enough. Nigerians deserve answers, and it is on this score that the Tinubu administration has failed, comprehensively and disgracefully.

Consider the facts that are not in dispute. A young woman died in the residence of a serving Federal Minister. For nearly two weeks, neither the Minister, nor the police, nor any arm of government said a word to the Nigerian people. It took the courage of Sahara Reporters to bring this death into public view. Three weeks after her death, no autopsy has been performed. No cause of death has been established. The investigation remains domiciled in the very state where the Minister served two terms as Governor and where his influence is beyond question.

And through all of this, silence from the Presidency. Silence from the Federal Executive Council. Silence from the Inspector-General of Police. Silence from the National Assembly. Not one word. Not one directive. Not one gesture to assure Nigerians that the life of Mary Habila matters to this government.

Instead, the Minister has been permitted to manage the narrative of a death that occurred under his own roof: issuing statements through his personal aides, deploying his private lawyers to correspond with the police, and continuing his official duties as though nothing has happened, while civil society groups, youth organisations, and the family’s own community cry out for an independent inquiry.

Let me be clear: I make no pronouncement on anyone’s guilt or innocence. That is precisely the point. Only a credible, independent, and transparent investigation can establish the truth, and it is the refusal of the Federal Government to guarantee such an investigation that constitutes the scandal before us.

A government’s first duty is the protection of life. Where a life is lost in circumstances touching a high official of state, the burden on government to act transparently is at its heaviest.

President Tinubu’s administration has instead treated this tragedy as an inconvenience to be waited out. If the death of a young Nigerian woman in a Minister’s residence cannot stir this government to act, then Nigerians must ask: whose life, exactly, does this government value?

I therefore demand the following: One, President Bola Tinubu must direct the Honourable Minister of Works to step aside immediately, pending the conclusion of investigations. This is not a punishment; it is the minimum standard of public accountability in any serious democracy. No official under this cloud should preside over a federal ministry as though it were business as usual.

Two, the Inspector-General of Police must immediately transfer the investigation from the Ebonyi State Command to Force Headquarters, with the involvement of independent forensic experts. No investigation conducted in the shadow of the Minister’s home-state influence can command public confidence.

Three, a full, independent, and internationally credible autopsy must be conducted without further delay, with the findings made public. The stalemate over the post-mortem, three weeks after this young woman’s death is an indictment of every institution involved.

Four, the family of Mary Habila must be protected from any pressure, inducement, or intimidation, and must be guaranteed unfettered access to the facts of their daughter’s death.

The measure of a nation is how it responds when the powerful are touched by tragedy and the powerless demand truth. Mary Habila was somebody’s daughter, somebody’s sister, a young professional with her life ahead of her. She was a Nigerian. Her death must not be reduced to a footnote of political convenience.

Nigeria will work again, but only when the life of every Nigerian counts, and when no one, however highly placed, stands beyond the reach of accountability.

May the soul of Mary Habila rest in peace. May her family find justice. -AA

Headline

Atiku Accuses INEC of Aiding Tinubu’s Alleged One-party State Agenda

Published

3 days ago

July 14, 2026

Eric

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of aiding President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to weaken opposition parties ahead of the 2027 polls by granting access to a factional leader of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

In a statement issued Monday by the Atiku Media Office, Atiku alleged that INEC’s actions amounted to partisanship and a violation of the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

The statement referenced a July 11, 2026 claim by Nafiu Bala Gombe, who “parades himself as National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC)”, that he had succeeded in uploading the names of his candidates on INEC’s portal.

According to Atiku’s office, uploading candidates is part of the process for the 2027 General Elections, made possible by access codes granted to political parties in line with INEC guidelines.

“Meanwhile, INEC has been mum, and has not denied or confirmed this obvious contradiction to the law and its own guidelines,” the statement said.

Atiku’s team argued that by granting an access code to Bala Gombe, INEC was recognizing a “pretender” despite having “since validated the chairmanship of the Sen. David Mark-led exco.”

“By granting access code to Bala Gombe, a pretender, laying claims to the chairmanship of the ADC, though the law is not on his side and INEC has since validated the chairmanship of the Sen. David Mark-led exco, the electoral umpire is once again manifesting its partisanship,” the statement noted.

It drew parallels with a past incident under Prof. Joash Amupitan-led INEC, alleging the commission “illegally removed the names of the duly recognised ADC exco following the judicial rascality of Justice Lifu in ignoring a superior ruling of an appellate court.”

The statement described the “so-called ‘successful’ uploading of ‘candidates’ by Nafiu Bala Gombe” as lacking legal basis.

“Nafiu Bala Gombe is not recognised as ADC Chairman. Mark is duly recognised. Can there be two recognised Chairmen of a political party? Possibly only in an INEC led by Amupitan. Can INEC grant two access codes to a political party? Certainly not,” it added.

Atiku’s office warned that the development “is a recipe for crisis and confirms that Prof Joash Amupitan was appointed to enable the weakening of the opposition parties by creating crisis even where none exists.”

Citing the law, the statement noted that Section 222 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that candidates must emerge through recognized party primaries supervised by INEC, while Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 requires parties to submit only one validly nominated candidate per elective office.

“Nafiu Bala Gombe and his criminal gang did not conduct any primaries. The INEC granting of access code to Nafiu Bala Gombe is unconstitutional and unlawful. The only submitted candidates known to the law are those of David Mark. Any parallel submission such as Nafiu Bala Gombe’s is null and void,” it said.

The statement called on the INEC Chairman to stop “fomenting crisis in the ADC and the other opposition parties and by so doing helping President Bola Tinubu’s agenda of total State capture.”

Headline

Appeal Court Upholds Judgment Ordering INEC to Derecognise Mark-led EXCO

Published

4 days ago

July 13, 2026

Eric

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Monday affirmed the judgment restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or participating in any state congresses organised by committees appointed by the Senator David Mark-led caretaker leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The appellate court decision was a split of two-to-one.

A three-member panel of the appellate court, in a lead verdict delivered by Justice Okon Abang, said it found no reason to set aside the restraining order the Federal High Court in Abuja had issued against the Mark-led ADC on April 29.

It further upheld the order of trial Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, which restrained the Mark-led executives from interfering with the tenure and functions of the party’s elected state executives.

The appellate court concurred that responsibility for conducting state congresses of political parties rests with elected state executive committees, not with the national leadership.

While Justices Abang and Donatus Okorowo gave the majority verdict barring the electoral body from acknowledging the outcome of congresses held by the Mark-led leadership of the ADC, the head of the appellate court’s panel, Justice Abba Mohammed, gave a dissenting judgment.

In his minority decision, Justice Mohammed held that the case that precipitated the restraining order bordered on a non-justiciable internal affair of a political party.

He held that the trial court was wrong to have assumed jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal judgment may jeopardise the presidential candidacies of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other candidates who emerged through the national congress organised by the Mark-led faction of the ADC, ahead of the 2027 general elections.

It will be recalled that the High Court had, in its judgment, held that the four-year tenure of the ADC’s State Working Committees and State Executive Committees remained valid and subsisting, pending the conduct of properly constituted congresses and the convocation of a national convention.

The judgment followed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/581/2026, lodged before the court by aggrieved members of the ADC.

Those behind the suit are Don Norman Obinna, Johnny Tovie Derek, Obah C. Ehigiator, Hon. Olona Yinka, Dr. Charles Idowu Omideji, Samuel Pam Gyang, and Obianyo Patrick, who told the court that they sued for themselves and on behalf of all State Chairmen and State Executive Committees of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Listed as defendants in the matter are the ADC; Sen. David Mark; Sen. Patricia Akwashiki; Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; and Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor (sued on behalf of the Caretaker/Interim National Working Committee); and INEC.

The plaintiffs had, among other things, challenged the decision of the Senator Mark-led leadership of the ADC to constitute committees for the purpose of conducting state congresses.

They challenged the validity of appointments made by the Mark-led caretaker committee, arguing that planned state congresses slated for April 2026, if conducted under the supervision of the said caretaker committee, would constitute a gross violation of the party’s constitution.

It was further the position of the plaintiffs that only duly elected party organs recognised under the party’s constitution possess the power to conduct congresses.

While agreeing with the plaintiffs, Justice Abdulmalik held that neither the 1999 Constitution, as amended, nor the Constitution of the ADC empowered the caretaker/interim National Working Committee led by Senator Mark to appoint committees for the purpose of conducting state congresses.

The court held that the claims brought before it by the plaintiffs were valid and deserving of judicial consideration, citing an alleged breach of constitutional and statutory provisions.

It held that Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, mandates political parties to conduct periodic elections based on democratic principles, adding that Article 23 of the ADC Constitution also provides that national and state officers shall hold office for a maximum of two terms spanning eight years.

Justice Abdulmalik stressed that although courts are generally reluctant to interfere in the domestic affairs of political parties, they nonetheless intervene where there is a clear allegation of violation of constitutional or statutory provisions. Political commentary articles

She held that evidence before the court established that the tenure of the state executive committees of the ADC remained valid and must be allowed to run its full course without interference.

The court stressed that only those elected structures have the authority to organise state congresses, and it accordingly nullified any process initiated by the Senator Mark-led caretaker leadership.

Earlier, the court dismissed a preliminary objection filed by the defendants challenging the competence of the suit and the court’s jurisdiction to entertain it.

It held that the subject matter of the plaintiffs’ action pertained to the affairs of INEC and therefore fell within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court under Section 251 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The court also waved aside the defendants’ contention that the plaintiffs failed to exhaust internal dispute resolution mechanisms before instituting the action.

It held that the plaintiffs had the requisite locus standi (legal right) to file the suit.

The appellate court, while upholding the restraining order, said it had a duty to intervene so as to “prevent anarchy and ensure the survival of democracy in Nigeria.”

It cited a recent Supreme Court judgment in the leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to hold that the ADC case could not be classified as a domestic affair of a political party.

“Once a complaint before the court is anchored on a constitutional infraction, the shield of internal affairs drops and the veil is lifted for judicial intervention,” Justice Abang added in the majority judgment.

Consequently, the panel dismissed the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/608/2026, which the ADC lodged in order to set aside the high court judgment.

It held that congresses and the national convention conducted by the Mark-led ADC amounted to a nullity as they were held in disobedience to a subsisting order that the High Court made on April 14.

Having resolved the case against the ADC, the appellate court awarded a cost of N10million against the party.

Shortly after the judgment, the ADC, which was represented by its National Welfare Secretary, Mr Nkem Ukandu, said the party would take the case before the Supreme Court.