Nigeria, April 14 -- The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, granted a request for an accelerated hearing of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) leadership dispute.

A five-member panel of the court led by Lawan Garba fixed 22 April for the hearing of the case.

The panel earlier on Tuesday fixed the same date to hear appeals regarding similar leadership disputes within another opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The ADC appeal was filed by the interim national chairman of a faction of the party, David Mark, who is a former president of the Nigerian Senate.

Mr Mark's lawyer, Jibrin Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), requested the Supreme Court to grant the case an accelerated hearing, citing urgency of the situation...