By Ayo Kehinde 
The Presidency on Thursday called on the National Judicial Council, NJC, to urgently intervene over conflicting court judgments concerning the leadership crisis in the African Democratic Congress ,ADC.
Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajai said the conflicting judicial pronouncements by courts of equal jurisdiction could undermine public confidence in the judiciary and raise questions about the integrity of the bench.
Writing on his confirmed X account Ajayi who was reacting to the judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which nullified the leadership of the ADC led by former President of the Senate, David Mark, said that two High Courts should not issue contradictory decisions on the same leadership dispute, insisting that the proper legal procedure after a court has delivered judgment is to approach a higher court through an appeal rather than initiate another judicial process at a court of equal jurisdiction.
“Nothing damages public confidence in the judiciary more than courts of equal jurisdiction issuing contradictory rulings on the same matter,” he said, adding that, “Two High Courts should not be making conflicting pronouncements on the ADC leadership dispute. Once a court has ruled on a matter, the proper recourse is an appeal to a higher court, not a parallel judicial contest,” he added.
The presidential spokesperson also dismissed allegations by some ADC members and supporters that President Bola Tinubu and the governing All Progressives Congress , APC, were responsible for the latest judgment.
According to him, the leadership crisis confronting the Mark-led faction of the ADC was largely caused by political miscalculations by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his associates, who joined the party despite an existing leadership dispute.
“Predictably, ADC members and sympathisers are already accusing President Bola Tinubu and the APC of masterminding the judgment delivered today by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja,” he stated.
“The truth, however, is that the leadership crisis bedevilling the Senator David Mark-led National Working Committee is largely a product of the political miscalculations of those who walked into it.”
“Neither President Tinubu nor the APC created this problem. The unforced errors and poor political judgment of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his political associates are at the heart of the present predicament,” he said.
The presidential aide further described the situation as particularly ironic, alleging that Atiku was pursuing legal and public relations strategies in Nigeria and the United States to disqualify Tinubu from the 2027 presidential election while questioning the judiciary when its decisions affected his own political ambition.
Ajayi accused the former Abubakar, presidential candidate of the ADC of applying double standards by supporting judicial intervention when it could benefit his political interests but describing an unfavourable ruling as evidence of conspiracy when it threatened his ambition.
“In other words, Atiku has no difficulty deploying judicial intervention as a political weapon when the objective is to keep his principal opponent off the ballot,” he wrote.
He described the alleged position as hypocrisy, insisting that the rule of law should apply equally to all political actors regardless of their ambitions.
“The rule of law cannot be a convenient instrument of political warfare. It must apply equally to everyone, including the former Vice President.”
Justice Peter Lifu on Wednesday delivered the judgment in a suit filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former National Deputy Chairman of the ADC from the North-East, who challenged the process through which the Mark-led leadership emerged.
