The Supreme Court rules today. But INEC's deadline for party membership registers is May 10. Winning in court and making it to 2027 are not the same thing.

INEC set May 10 as the deadline for political parties to submit their membership registers. That's ten days from today.

The membership register isn't administrative paperwork. It's the foundational document that tells INEC which party members exist, where they're registered, and whether the party has the geographic spread required to participate in a national election. Without it, a party can't field candidates. Without candidates, there's no campaign. Without a campaign, there's no 2027.

The ADC has been without recognised leadership since early April. That means no authorised officials to organise the register. No one with legal standing to submit it. No pathway to compliance.

Even if the Supreme Court's ruling today recognises David Mark's faction as the legitimate leadership, the party still has just ten days to file that document with INEC.

That's not impossible. Nigerian politicians have moved faster when they needed to. But it means the court ruling, by itself, isn't the end of the story. It's the beginning of a race against a deadline that was always going to be tight.

Here's the picture in Nigeria. Legal wins and political survival are often separated by a gap that only money, connections, and speed can close. The person who files the right appeal and wins the judgment still has to execute on the ground. Under time pressure. With an INEC that's already shown it will act on lower court decisions without waiting for higher ones.

Think about what the people inside the ADC's state offices are doing today. If the ruling went their way, they're calling ward chairmen, pulling membership lists, trying to verify numbers in 36 states plus the FCT before a deadline ten days away. That's the work that a successful court ruling demands. That's the work that determines whether 2027 happens for them.

Someone sat down in a Maitama office today and started making phone calls. Ward by ward. State by state. That's what winning in court actually looks like.

The 2027 election is nine months away. The ADC's window to become a real competitor is narrowing. The court ruling bought time. Ten days of it.

What happens in those ten days is the real test. Not the ruling. What comes after it.