A Federal High Court in Abuja has ruled that a resignation letter allegedly signed by Nafiu Bala, a former deputy national chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, was not genuine.
The court rejected the document, which the party had presented to argue that Bala voluntarily resigned from his position before the emergence of the leadership led by former Senate President David Mark.
In its judgment delivered on November 5, 2026, Justice Peter Lifu said the disputed letter could not be accepted as reliable evidence that Bala had relinquished his position.
The judge reached the decision after comparing the signature on the resignation letter with those on other documents submitted by Bala during the proceedings.
He found that the signatures were materially different and could not reasonably be considered to have been written by the same person.
“The fact that a document is certified, however, does not, by that fact alone, settle a genuine dispute as to whether the person named in it actually signed it,” the judge held.
The court also ruled that the ADC failed to prove that the appointment of Mark, former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola and other party officials followed the democratic election process required by law.
Bala had approached the court to challenge the emergence of Mark as national chairman and Aregbesola as national secretary following the party’s 99th National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting held on July 29, 2025.
He argued that he was elected deputy national chairman on October 12, 2022, for a four-year tenure ending on October 11, 2026, and remained the only elected member of the party’s National Working Committee who had not resigned.
He also challenged the authenticity of a resignation letter dated May 17, 2025, insisting that the signature on the document was a forged and poor imitation of his genuine signature.
However, the ADC and other defendants maintained that Bala had voluntarily resigned and therefore lacked the legal right to challenge the party’s subsequent decisions.
They also argued that the party’s NEC had the authority to dissolve the existing National Working Committee and appoint new officers.
Rejecting their position, Justice Lifu said the defendants failed to provide sufficient evidence that party members or duly elected delegates participated in a democratic election to choose the new leadership.
The judge further explained that INEC’s decision to receive notice of the meeting and monitor its proceedings did not amount to proof that a valid election had taken place.
“The fact that INEC received notice of the meeting and monitored its proceedings does not fill this evidential gap. Notice to the Commission and democratic election are separate requirements, and proof of the former is not proof of the latter,” he said.
The court also held that the powers granted to the NEC under the ADC constitution could not override the constitutional and legal requirements for electing party executives.
It subsequently granted Bala’s substantive claims, nullified the relevant decisions taken at the July 29, 2025 meeting and restrained INEC from recognising Mark, Aregbesola and other members of the disputed National Working Committee as legitimate officers of the party.
