The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the National Welfare Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nkemakolam Ukandu, to pay ₦100 million in damages to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho, and Peter Lifu after striking out his suit for lack of diligent prosecution.
Justice Salim Ibrahim delivered the ruling on Monday, directing Ukandu to pay ₦50 million each to the two judges within 14 days. The order followed an oral application by counsel to the judges, J.U.K. Igwe (SAN), after the court dismissed the case.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1165/2026, challenged the conduct of Justice Tsoho and Justice Lifu, accusing them of judicial bias, abuse of judicial powers, corruption and disobedience to court orders. Ukandu had also sought an order compelling the National Judicial Council to investigate the allegations.
Justice Ibrahim, however, held that the plaintiff failed to diligently prosecute the case, noting that both Ukandu and his counsel repeatedly failed to appear in court after the matter was assigned to him. The judge had earlier warned on June 30 that the suit would be struck out if the plaintiff failed to attend subsequent proceedings.
The case stemmed from the ongoing leadership crisis within the African Democratic Congress. An aggrieved party member, Nafiu-Bala Gombe, is pursuing a separate suit before Justice Lifu seeking to restrain the party leadership headed by former Senate President David Mark from presenting itself as the legitimate leadership of the party.
Ukandu, who is seeking to be joined in that case, had questioned Justice Tsoho’s decision to reassign the leadership dispute from Justice Emeka Nwite to Justice Lifu, arguing that the reassignment violated an earlier court order as well as a decision of the Supreme Court.
With Monday’s ruling, the court not only dismissed Ukandu’s claims but also imposed substantial financial penalties, underscoring the consequences of abandoning litigation after initiating judicial proceedings.