•The protesters
The precincts of the Federal High Court in Abuja today witnessed a crowd of registered members and stakeholders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) staging a peaceful protest, demanding that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik withdraw from cases involving the party and other opposition groups.
Operating under the banner of ADC Registered Members and Stakeholders (ADC–RM & S), the protesters appealed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and other key actors in the legal community to intervene, urging that the matter involving the party be reassigned to another judge in the interest of public confidence in the judicial process.
The protest took place ahead of the scheduled hearing of an ADC-related matter before Justice Abdulmalik, reports Daily Independent.
Speaking to journalists, the National President of ADC–RM & S, Anthony Olah, appealed to the leadership of the judiciary to take steps they believe would preserve trust in the legal process.
“We therefore, call on the Chief Justice of Nigeria to intervene urgently by: Directing Justice Joyce Abdulmalik to recuse herself from ADC and opposition party cases; Protecting Nigeria’s democracy from judicial manipulation; As the ADC case is coming up before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on Friday, 6/3/2026, we call on the CJN, NBA President, Nigerians, International Community and all lovers of democracy across the globe to press on her to recuse herself from the ADC case,” he said.
The protesters said they would continue their advocacy through peaceful means and appealed to security agencies to ensure order around the court premises during the next sitting.
They also called on citizens and institutions they described as defenders of democratic values to pay attention to the matter.
During the protest, participants carried placards with inscriptions such as “Judiciary Should Not Destroy Our Democracy; Recuse Yourself, You Are Biased. We Have No Confidence in You; and other messages reflecting their concerns about the ongoing legal proceedings.
The group further urged leaders of the judiciary and the legal profession to take steps they believe would strengthen confidence in the courts.
Also speaking at the gathering, the Deputy National Secretary of the ADC, Oladimeji Fabian, said the party believed the case should be handled by another judge to avoid doubts about fairness.
Commenting on the issue, he said, “Her conduct at proceedings confirms that. I can give you an instance. How can a judge who is sitting on a case be bullying the lawyer of a party because you have an ulterior motive? I don’t know who has given her instructions.
“The ADC lawyer has said that we don’t have confidence. It’s the case before her, but she insisted that she’s going to go ahead with it. We will not allow that to happen.
“In this country, people forget history. I can tell you that a former president of the appeal court recused herself from a matter because a party said, we don’t have trust in you, we don’t have confidence in you.
“Justice Bulkachuwa, former president of the appeal court, we’ve seen Justice Binta Nyako recuse herself when a party says, we don’t want you, we don’t have confidence in you.
“We have seen so many. Justice Omotosho was the first judge on this case. He recused himself when a party to this matter said, we don’t trust you. Then Justice Abdul-Malik should tell us why she insisted on going on with this case in spite of the concern of a party.
“So we are calling on CJN, we are calling on all of us at Democracy, that this cannot continue. She should recuse herself from this case. And we are calling on Justice Tsoho, the chairman, the chairman and the president of the appeal court to reassign the case to a justice with moderate tendencies.”
The demonstrators maintained that their action was aimed at drawing attention to what they described as the need for transparency and confidence in judicial proceedings, particularly in cases involving political parties.
They urged relevant authorities within the judiciary to consider their concerns as part of efforts to safeguard public trust in Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
