The ADC crisis in Adamawa escalated after a High Court in Yola halted the party’s congress, maintaining the status quo amid leadership disputes and multiple court cases.
- Court halts ADC congress in Adamawa again
- Leadership crisis triggers multiple legal battles
- Status quo order freezes party structure
- Uncertainty grows ahead of 2027 elections
The chairs were already arranged. The delegates had been mobilised. Then the order arrived.
On Thursday, April 10, 2026, Hon. Justice Kyanson Samuel Lawanson of the High Court of Justice, Yola Judicial Division, granted an ex-parte interim injunction restraining the African Democratic Congress from proceeding with its planned state congress in Adamawa, the home state of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and one of the most politically contested territories in Nigeria’s North East.
The ruling, issued in Suit No. HC/ADSY/64/2026, has effectively frozen the ADC’s leadership structure in Adamawa, barring any election of a new state chairman until the court says otherwise.
What the Court Said and Who Brought the Case
The application was filed by one Isreal Ishaku, who brought the matter before Justice Lawanson as an emergency ex-parte motion, meaning the respondents were not present or heard before the order was granted. The respondents named in the suit are Hon. Barr. Sadiq Ibrahim Dasin, the ADC itself as the second respondent, and Brig. Gen. Barr. Ishaya Bauka (Rtd) as the third respondent.
Bauka had been serving as the chairman of the ADC’s congress committee in Adamawa, the body responsible for supervising the elections that the court has now halted.
Justice Lawanson, after a careful review of the supporting affidavit, exhibits, and written address filed on April 10, 2026, found sufficient merit in the application to grant the interim order. The court directed that the status quo be maintained, meaning the current leadership arrangement within the ADC in Adamawa must remain unchanged, pending the outcome of the substantive hearing.
The matter has been adjourned to Tuesday, April 17, 2026.
Legal observers note that the application was brought under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, a legal framework that allows courts to issue swift interim reliefs in ex-parte applications where there is risk of irreparable harm. The use of fundamental rights provisions in a party congress dispute is itself notable; it signals that the applicant’s legal team framed the exclusion from the congress process not merely as a party matter, but as a constitutional one.
The Crisis Behind the Crisis
This ruling did not emerge from a vacuum.
The ADC in Adamawa has been fracturing for weeks, driven by disputes over who controls the party structure ahead of the 2027 general elections. Multiple factions have been jostling for dominance in a state that political strategists regard as a critical battleground for any opposition presidential ambition.
At the centre of the local tensions is the figure of Sadiq Ibrahim Dasin, who was announced as the new ADC state chairman through a transition committee process. That announcement immediately triggered resentment from other senior party figures who felt they were bypassed. The state chairman, Yohanna Shehu, had earlier this week filed a separate suit challenging his own alleged exclusion from the congress planning process, a suit that led another Adamawa High Court judge, Justice Ahmed Isah of High Court No. 6, to also issue a suspension order against the congress on April 9, 2026.
Now a second court, a second judge, and a second applicant have produced a second restraining order on the same congress within two days. The ADC in Adamawa is, in effect, fighting itself on two legal fronts simultaneously.
The crisis in the state mirrors what is happening nationally. At the federal level, INEC derecognised both the David Mark-led and Nafiu Bala-led factions of the ADC on April 1, 2026, following a Court of Appeal judgment on March 12 that dismissed Mark’s appeal as incompetent and unmeritorious. With no INEC-recognised national leadership, the party’s state chapters are operating in a structural vacuum, and Adamawa is making the consequences visible.
Reports from within Adamawa’s ADC have indicated that the factions extend beyond Dasin and Shehu’s camps, with groups aligned to Senator Aisha Binani, Senator Ishaku Abbo, and former Governor Mohammed Umaru Bindow all running separate calculations about the party’s future. A source close to Bindow’s circle said earlier this week that the former governor was “consulting widely” about whether to remain in the party at all.
What Happens on April 17
The next date to watch is Tuesday, April 17, 2026, when Justice Lawanson has scheduled the substantive hearing of the application.
At that hearing, the respondents, including Dasin and Bauka, will have the opportunity to appear and respond to the claims brought by the applicant. If the court is satisfied that the fundamental rights argument holds, the injunction could be extended further. If the respondents mount a successful challenge, the congress process could be revived, though by then it would need to contend with the separate order from Justice Ahmed Isah, whose case is also adjourned to April 15, 2026.
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Two courts. Two orders. One congress that cannot hold.
As of press time, neither the ADC’s national secretariat nor the Babachir Lawal-aligned faction, which backs the Dasin-led state transition committee, had issued any public response to the April 10 ruling. The congress committee itself had earlier denied awareness of the earlier court order from Justice Isah, a position that will be difficult to sustain now that a second certified order bears the stamp and signature of a second Adamawa High Court judge.
The ADC in Adamawa did not respond to requests for comment from The Gazette News ahead of publication.
What the People in Adamawa Are Watching
For ordinary party members in Adamawa, the cascading court orders carry a meaning that goes beyond legal procedure.
A ward-level party official in Mubi, who asked not to be identified by name, told The Gazette News, “We registered, we paid our dues, we showed up for every meeting. Now we are told the congress cannot hold because of court cases filed by people we don’t even know. Who is this party for?”
That question deserves a direct answer from every senior figure currently litigating the ADC’s future in Adamawa. The court on April 17 may settle who gets to hold a congress. But it cannot settle who the party was actually built to serve.
That answer, if it ever comes, will not arrive in a courtroom.
This report was produced by the editorial team at The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful in line with our commitment to accuracy, fairness, and responsible journalism. Information in this article is based on verified sources available at the time of publication. The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful may update the story as new facts emerge or additional context becomes available.
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