‘Sort out your internal mess’, APC tells Atiku, ADC after court judgment

By Omeiza Ajayi The All Progressives Congress APC has told the Senator David Mark-led faction of the African Democratic Congress ADC to go sort out its internal mess and quit its “senseless rants” after a Federal High Court judgment sacked the faction’s leadership. Read Also: ADC Crisis: What becomes of Atiku, Mark, Gombe if Supreme Court decides party’s fate?

In a statement Friday in Abuja, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said the ruling party had no hand in the case. “To be clear, APC is neither a party nor an interlocutor in the matter. Nothing about the case has anything to do with the APC. And the APC has absolutely no role in the party’s judicial quagmire,” he said. The judgment, delivered on Thursday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, sacked the David Mark-led leadership of the ADC.

It also nullified all official acts of that leadership, including its primary election processes and outcomes, like the presidential candidacy of former vice president Atiku Abubakar. Morka said the case was brought by ADC national officers against the faction now removed from office, describing the suit as “a notorious case initiated by leaders of ADC against pirate leaders of ADC.” He accused Mark and his associates of taking over the party “to satisfy Atiku Abubakar’s quixotic presidential ambition.” According to him, “it didn’t matter to them that their hostile takeover of that party was in flagrant violation of the rule of law and ADC’s internal democracy, as a court of competent jurisdiction has now declared.” The APC spokesman also accused the ADC of reacting to court decisions according to whether they favour it.

“Every time a court decides against the Senator David Mark-led factional African Democratic Congress, they accuse the All Progressives Congress of collusion and deprecate the judiciary. Every time a court decides in their favour, they hail the rule of law and extol the judiciary,” he said. He added that the faction’s attitude showed “no iota of regard for the authority and independence of the judiciary, an indispensable pillar of any democracy.” On Thursday’s ruling, Morka said it “was procured by their own lawlessness and demonstrates the vibrancy of the rule of law and independence of the judiciary in Nigeria.” He said the ADC leaders “take no responsibility or accountability for the self-inflicted injury that the court only judicially certified.”