A Federal High Court in Abuja has hit the national welfare secretary of the African Democratic Congress with a N100 million damages order. Justice Salim Ibrahim handed down the ruling on Monday against Nkemakolam Ukandu, directing him to compensate Chief Judge John Tsoho and Justice Peter Lifu.
Ukandu must pay N50 million to each judge within two weeks, the court ordered. The damages award came after counsel for the two judges, J.
U. K.
Igwe, SAN, made an oral application to the court.
Justice Ibrahim struck out Ukandu's suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1165/2026, after finding he'd failed to prosecute the matter with due diligence. The ADC official had named the National Judicial Council, Justice Tsoho and Justice Lifu in his case, accusing them of bias and flouting court orders.
Ukandu sought an order pushing the NJC to probe what he called corruption and abuse of judicial authority by the two judges. He alleged they'd bent the rules in favour of certain individuals.
The problem stemmed from repeated absences in court. Ukandu and his lawyer failed to show up for hearings after Justice Ibrahim took the case, the judgment revealed.
On June 30, Justice Ibrahim warned that dismissal would follow if neither the plaintiff nor his counsel turned up for future proceedings. Neither heeded the warning.
The dispute connects to a leadership battle rocking the ADC. Party member Nafiu-Bala Gombe brought a substantive suit pending before Justice Lifu seeking to stop party executives led by former Senate President David Mark from claiming they represent the ADC.
Ukandu wanted to join that case, but accused Justice Tsoho and Justice Lifu of showing clear preference for others. He claimed they favoured certain individuals over the party.
In his original suit, Ukandu attacked the Chief Judge's decision to move the leadership dispute from Justice Emeka Nwite to Justice Lifu. He contended the reassignment breached both an earlier ruling from Justice Nwite and a Supreme Court decision.
