Fresh Twist: Court Warns It May Throw Out ADC Case Against FHC Chief Judge, Justice Lifu

The Federal High Court in Abuja has warned that it may dismiss a lawsuit filed by African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain Nkemakolam Ukandu against the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, and Justice Peter Lifu over allegations of bias and disregard for a court order.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

Justice Salim Ibrahim issued the warning on Tuesday after neither Ukandu nor his legal representative appeared in court when the matter was scheduled for mention.

The judge cautioned that the case could be struck out for lack of diligent prosecution if the plaintiff fails to attend or be represented at the next hearing.

Ukandu, the ADC’s National Welfare Secretary, instituted the suit against the National Judicial Council (NJC), Justice Tsoho and Justice Lifu, who are listed as the first, second and third defendants respectively.

In the case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1165/2026, Ukandu is asking the court to compel the NJC to investigate allegations of corruption, abuse of judicial authority and bias against the two judges.

At Tuesday’s proceedings, only counsel to Justice Tsoho and Justice Lifu, J.U.K. Igwe (SAN), was present.

Igwe reminded the court that Ukandu and his lawyer were also absent during the previous hearing on June 22 and urged Justice Ibrahim to strike out the suit, arguing that the plaintiff had shown little interest in pursuing the matter.

However, the judge declined the request, stating that Ukandu should be given another opportunity in the interest of fair hearing.

Igwe further informed the court that efforts to serve the plaintiff with the defendants’ preliminary objection and other court documents had been unsuccessful.

According to him, the court bailiff reported that the address of Ukandu’s lawyer at No. 4 Oyo Street, Garki Area 2, Abuja, could not be located because there was no building on the identified plot.

Consequently, the defendants filed an ex-parte application dated June 25, seeking permission to serve the court processes through substituted means.

They requested approval to paste the preliminary objection, memorandum of conditional appearance, joint statement of defence and other documents at the entrance of the address provided by the plaintiff’s counsel. Alternatively, they sought leave to serve the documents electronically through WhatsApp using the phone number listed in the originating process.

Justice Ibrahim granted the application in part, authorising the defendants to serve the documents by pasting them at the entrance of the stated address.

He also directed Justice Tsoho and Justice Lifu to ensure the order is served on both Ukandu and the National Judicial Council.

The court subsequently adjourned the matter until July 6 for hearing.

The lawsuit is linked to the lingering leadership crisis within the ADC, stemming from a separate case filed by party member Nafiu-Bala Gombe, who is seeking a court order preventing the leadership headed by Senator David Mark from presenting itself as the legitimate leadership of the party.

Ukandu, who is seeking to be joined in that case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, accused Justices Tsoho and Lifu of bias and alleged that they acted in favour of certain interests in the dispute.

He also challenged the decision to reassign the leadership case to Justice Lifu after it was withdrawn from Justice Emeka Nwite, claiming the reassignment violated existing court orders.