The opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), yesterday, initiated legal action against the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, among others, over alleged judicial bias, abuse of powers and disobedience of court orders.

This was as the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately comply with various subsisting court judgments affirming the legitimacy of its leadership structure or face massive nationwide protests.

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, said opposition parties, including the ADC and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), were drawing lessons from the ruling party’s internal democratic processes.

Listed as defendants in ADC’s suit marked FCT/ABJ/CS/1165/2026 are National Judicial Council (NJC), Tshoho and Hon Justice Peter Lifu.

The suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja by ADC National Welfare Secretary, Nkemakolam Ukandu, seeks to compel the NJC to investigate allegations of corruption, abuse of judicial authority and manifest bias against the two judicial officers.

Ukandu, who is seeking to be joined in an ongoing suit challenging the Senator David Mark-led leadership of the ADC, accused Tsoho of improperly reassigning the case from Justice Emeka Nwite to Lifu despite a Supreme Court directive remitting the matter back to Nwite for the determination of pending jurisdictional issues.

According to the plaintiff, the reassignment violated both the Supreme Court’s order and subsequent directives issued by Justice Nwite, who had adjourned proceedings pending the resolution of issues surrounding the transfer request.

He further alleged that Lifu proceeded to entertain the matter despite being aware of existing court orders and pending objections regarding the reassignment.
NNPP’S factional National Chairman, Mr Agbo Major, at a news conference yesterday in Abuja, said the briefing had become necessary to defend Nigeria’s democracy, the rule of law and the integrity of the electoral system.

According to him, despite the clear judicial pronouncements, the top management of INEC has continued to accord recognition to the then Dr Ajuji Ahmed group and now the Bala Mohammed-led group, which he described as an expelled faction of the party.

He described the commission’s actions as a threat to democratic values.

Reviewing the legal battles that had engulfed NNPP over the last three-and-a-half years, Major explained that four separate judgments had progressively settled the leadership crisis.

He stated that after an initial Abuja court ruling, which described the crisis as an internal affair, a subsequent judgment by an Abia High Court gave a definite order reverting the party’s leadership to the Board of Trustees (BoT), led by Dr Boniface Aniebonam, with mandates to activate all other party organs.

He added that following successful ward, local council and zonal congresses, an FCT High Court also affirmed the party’s processes.

Major called on INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, to immediately comply with those court orders or resign his position.

He warned that if INEC continued to shut them out of official recognition, they would have no choice but to return to the court to seek an abridgement of time or a complete shift of the general elections.

SPEAKING yesterday in Abuja during a courtesy visit by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Richard Montgomery, to the APC National Secretariat, Yilwatda stated that the APC had become a benchmark for political parties in Nigeria due to its commitment to internal democracy and transparent electoral processes.

“We are the reference point for other political parties. They observe our processes and often replicate our innovations and practices. This places a great responsibility on us to continue setting high standards for internal democracy and political conduct,” he said.

The APC chairman cited the party’s recent primary elections, noting that over 6,000 members participated across various levels, while less than three per cent of the outcomes generated petitions.

According to him, the low number of complaints demonstrated that the exercises were largely peaceful, transparent and acceptable to party stakeholders.