ADC Youths Petition NJC, Seek Justice Lifu’s Removal Over Controversial Ruling

ADC youths urge NJC to remove Justice Lifu, alleging misconduct and bias over a ruling targeting parties.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC), on Thursday demanded the removal of Justice Peter Lifu of a Federal High Court in Abuja to preserve the integrity of the judiciary.

The party said he should be stopped “from any and all adjudicatory matters, reviews, or decision-making roles concerning the ADC.”

The National Youth Wing of the ADC in a petition addressed to the National Judicial Council (NJC) written in conjunction with Civil Society Organisations leaders in the party, said the nation’s democratic architecture is under a coordinated assault by compromised custodians of the law.

A chieftain of the ADC, Ibrahim Garba Wala, who read the petition dated June 18, 2026 to journalists on behalf of its National Youth Leader, Balarabe Rufai in Abuja, said that the ADC Youth Wing, alongside youth representatives across the federation will remain resolute in their protest until the NJC acts to protect institutional integrity, enforces discipline, completely recuses the judge from its affairs, and begins the process for his immediate sack from the bench.

According to him, there were attempts to prevent them from submitting the petition as all roads leading to the NJC were barricaded by heavily armed security agents but were later called to present it by few of their officials.

The petition reads: “We demand the immediate, total removal of Hon. Justice Peter Odo Lifu from any and all adjudicatory matters, reviews, or decision-making roles concerning the ADC. Furthermore, given his pattern of flagrant judicial rascality, we explicitly demand that the National Judicial Council recommend his absolute dismissal from the Nigerian judiciary to preserve the fading credibility of the bench.

“Our democratic architecture is under a coordinated assault by compromised custodians of the law. Under suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, Hon. Justice Peter Odo Lifu delivered a highly controversial ruling ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC and four other political parties. This judgment is not an honest legal error; it is a calculated, politically motivated act designed to shrink the democratic space in Nigeria and artificially consolidate a two-party monopoly.”

While lamenting what he described as “legal distortions and judicial rascality tying Justice Lifu to this systemic compromise,” the ADC Youth leader, said: “Justice Lifu brazenly proceeded with this judgment despite a binding Court of Appeal order that explicitly stayed proceedings on this matter, a move that subverts the sacred doctrine of stare decisis and constitutes gross misconduct.

“The bench looked away as the plaintiffs, the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators, clandestinely altered their legal personality midway through the process without a valid court order.

“While the NJC has previously dismissed certain claims due to standard procedural hurdles, the persistence of these identical accusations across multiple petitions—including those by the Chairman of the Boot Party—proves a systemic erosion of public trust.

“We cannot watch the political rights of millions of young Nigerians be auctioned off by compromised benches. The continuous involvement of Justice Lifu in ADC affairs completely destroys public trust and makes a mockery of fair hearing. As the protectors of our nation’s future, we declare that when the bench compromises its integrity, the youth will become the courtroom of public conscience. The ballot box belongs to us, and we will not allow any court to rob us of our political expression.”