The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has demanded the immediate release of Justice Peter Lifu’s judgment on the leadership of the party and candidates who emerged through the primaries conducted earlier in the year.

Delivering judgement in a suit filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, Justice Lifu had sacked the leadership of ADC led by Senator David Mark.

He also voided the candidacy of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and all the candidates who emerged through the primaries conducted by the Mark-led officials.

In a statement on Monday, Phrank Shaibu, Director, Strategic Communications of the ADC PCC, said the party applied for copies of the judgement but could not lay hands on them

“Our counsel applied for the certified copy and paid the required fee, yet the judgment remains out of reach. This is an indefensible denial of access to a ruling that directly affects the party and its members. If the judgment was ready, there is no excuse for keeping it from the parties. Release it now.

“Our counsel for the first defendant filed a formal application for the certified true copy on 6 November 2026 and paid the assessed fee. Counsel for the third defendant applied the day before, on the very day the judgment was delivered. Both applications carry the Federal High Court’s “PAID” stamp. Every requirement was met. Yet the applicants are still being denied the judgment.

“This is not a routine administrative delay. It is a denial of access to a court decision that directly affects the rights of the parties. Justice Lifu declared the judgment ready; the applicants paid for its certified copy; the court has acknowledged payment. Why, then, are they still being kept in the dark? A judge cannot announce that a judgment is ready and leave litigants to chase the document they need to understand and challenge it.

“The judgment concerns the leadership of a major political party and the rights of its members. Withholding its certified copy prevents the affected parties from knowing the exact orders made and responding fully through the courts. If the ruling is sound, there is no justification for keeping it out of reach. The Federal High Court must release the judgment immediately and explain why paid applications have gone unanswered. Public confidence cannot survive a process in which consequential judgments are announced, but their official records are denied to the parties.

“The ADC formally objected to Justice Lifu presiding over this matter. National Secretary Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola raised serious concerns about the judge’s impartiality, citing previous appellate decisions that, in the party’s view, called his competence and neutrality into question. Those concerns were placed on record. The unexplained withholding of the judgment now compounds them and demands answers.

“The timing and conduct of this process are indefensible. Justice Lifu delivered the judgment days after the ADC launched its Sokoto campaign; he then declared the copies ready, yet the parties’ paid applications remain unanswered. The public is entitled to ask whether this was a judicial process—or a calculated attempt to deliver a political blow while denying the party the document needed to challenge it. Whoever believes that withholding the judgment will bury these questions or shield those responsible from scrutiny is gravely mistaken.

“We demand the immediate release of the certified judgment and a public explanation for the delay. Every day it is withheld deepens the damage to confidence in the judiciary. Those responsible must understand that the ADC will pursue every lawful remedy, place the full record before the appropriate authorities and ensure that Nigerians know what has happened. No party, official or judicial officer is beyond scrutiny when the rights of citizens and the integrity of the electoral process are at stake.

“The ADC will not be intimidated or denied its right to challenge this ruling. Any attempt to obstruct that right will be met with every lawful action available, and those responsible will be held to account through the proper legal and institutional channels. Justice must be done, its record must be accessible, and the consequences of denying the parties that access must not be evaded.”

Ojodu LCDA Chairman, Hon .Odumbaku has reacted to the claim of boarder dispute by his Ifo LG counterpart, Hon Olalekan Kushimo

The Ifo LG Chairman had claimed in a recent alarm, that Ojodu appropriated part of the land belonging to Ifo LG in Ogun state, to itself in Yakoyo, a border area between Lagos and Ogun state.

Reacting to the allegetion, Odumbaku said the alarm raised by his Ifo counterpart accusing the Ojodu LCDA leadership of trespassing was unnecessary, because according to him, the issue of boarder delineation is strictly a state matter that is out of the jurisdiction of the LG.

Odumbaku stressed that the boarder land indicator erected in Yakoyo by Lagos state, to identify it’s portion of the boarder area, which triggered the alarm by his counterpart was also erected in other areas of the state after due diligence.

According to him, ojodu shares a good relationship with Ifo because they are geographically linked together and have become inseperable . He said the issue has been on long before the recent alarm, adding however that, it’s already being handled by the states as the issue lie basically within their purview to sort.

The African Centre for Security, Governance and Development, Centre SGD, has said 70 physical election-related attacks were recorded across 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory between January 1 and October 27, 2026, leaving 27 people dead.

The executive director of CentreSGD, Theresa Chigozirim Odinkalu-Okoro, in a statement, on Sunday warned that the incidents reflect escalating political violence that threatens the credibility of the 2027 general elections, as attacks on candidates, supporters, campaign convoys and party offices continue to raise security concerns.

Citing the CLEEN Foundation’s Election Security Threat Assessment and Yiaga Africa’s National Voting Intentions Survey conducted in September 2026, CentreSGD said 61 per cent of Nigerians feared violence could prevent them from voting.

The figure was higher in the North-East, where 78 per cent of respondents expressed the same concern.

Among the incidents highlighted were attacks on Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, supporters in Enugu, attacks on APC campaign convoys in Malumfashi and Yankara, Katsina State, and the assault on African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, and his entourage in Ado-Ekiti.

The centre also cited allegations of attacks on the ADC governorship candidate’s convoy in Sokoto and ADC campaign convoys, including that of presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, in Kebbi State.

It, however, acknowledged that some of the allegations had been disputed by the parties and authorities involved, stressing that it was not pronouncing on culpability but calling for thorough investigations and prosecution where evidence warranted.

CentreSGD urged the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to investigate all election-related attacks promptly, transparently and without political bias, including prosecuting those responsible and their sponsors.

“Elections should be a contest of ideas and popular mandate, not a test of physical force or armed coercion,” the centre said.

It warned that democracy could not thrive in an environment governed by fear.