AKURE, Nigeria — The Federal High Court in Akure has restrained the All Progressives Congress from conducting its planned state congress in Ondo State scheduled for Tuesday, March 3, 2026, following an ex parte application by aggrieved party members, March 2, 2026. The court also barred the Independent National Electoral Commission from recognizing earlier ward and local government congresses held in February.

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Justice Toyin Adegoke issued the order Monday while ruling on an application filed by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Adedayo Adedeji on behalf of Lawrence Adebayo and 7,427 other party members.

In his ruling, Adegoke directed the APC not to “conduct, hold, proceed with or conclude any state congress in Ondo State” pending the hearing and determination of a motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.

The court further restrained INEC and the APC from “acknowledging, accepting, recognising or giving effect to the purported ward and local government congresses conducted on February 18 and 21, 2026, and the proposed state congress scheduled for March 3, 2026, or any other date.”

The judge fixed March 26 for the hearing of the substantive motion.

The order follows tension and violence surrounding the party’s ward congresses in the state.

On Feb. 17, suspected armed thugs reportedly attacked Ade Adetimehin, the APC caretaker chairman in Ondo State, during a stakeholders meeting at the party secretariat in Akure. Adetimehin alleged that members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, led by its chairman, Ademola Odudu, carried out the attack on the orders of Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

Aiyedatiwa denied the allegation and distanced himself from the incident.

Violence escalated Feb. 18 during the APC ward congress in Odode-Idanre, the headquarters of Idanre Local Government Area, where two people were reportedly killed and five others injured.

The incidents have intensified the internal crisis within the Ondo APC, with rival factions exchanging accusations over control of the party structure ahead of future political contests.