National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator David Mark, and National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola have filed objections to a fresh application by party chieftain Nafiu Bala Gombe seeking to amend his claims in the leadership suit filed against them.
“} {“blockName”:”core/paragraph”,”innerHTML”:”Mark and Aregbesola argued that granting the request would result in a miscarriage of justice and would give the plaintiff an undue advantage after seeing the strength of the defence already filed.
“} {“blockName”:”core/paragraph”,”innerHTML”:”This would be the third amendment to the suit. Gombe maintains he retains the legal right to amend his claims at any stage before judgment, basing his application on eight grounds and a six‑paragraph affidavit.
“} {“blockName”:”core/paragraph”,”innerHTML”:”Represented by counsel Suleiman Umar, Mark told the court that the issues between the parties have already been joined and that allowing another amendment at this juncture would be prejudicial and contrary to natural justice.
“} {“blockName”:”core/paragraph”,”innerHTML”:”Aregbesola, through his lawyer Realwan Okpanachi, alleged that Gombe’s proposed amendments seek to change the character of his original case.
“} {“blockName”:”core/paragraph”,”innerHTML”:”He pointed out that, contrary to Gombe’s assertions, the ADC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had already changed the party’s national leadership at a meeting on 29 July 2025, after due notice was served on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on 1 July, which he said secured the legality of the Mark/Aregbesola leadership.
“} {“blockName”:”core/paragraph”,”innerHTML”:”Aregbesola further noted that Gombe’s original suit relied on an unsigned copy of the ADC Constitution and that the plaintiff now seeks to introduce a signed version through the proposed amendments to bolster his case.
“} {“blockName”:”core/paragraph”,”innerHTML”:”Describing this as bad faith, Aregbesola urged Justice Lifu to reject the application, arguing that the new claims, documents and exhibits amount to an abuse of court process, especially since the amendment was filed after the Supreme Court ordered an accelerated hearing of the matter.
“} {“blockName”:”core/paragraph”,”innerHTML”:”After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Lifu fixed 7 July to rule on whether the amendments will be allowed.
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