Court reserves judgment in appeal against deregistration of ADC, four others

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday reserved judgment in the appeals challenging the Federal High Court’s decision directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.

A three-member panel of the court, led by Justice Abba Bello Mohammed, reserved judgment to a date to be communicated to the parties after counsel adopted their respective briefs of argument.

The parties challenging the judgment are the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

Counsel to the Accord Party, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, urged the appellate court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court, describing it as a nullity.

He argued that Justice Peter Lifu erred in law by basing his findings and conclusions on facts that were not supported by law. He urged the Court of Appeal to nullify the judgment in the interest of justice.

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court had ordered INEC to deregister the five political parties, holding that they failed to meet the constitutional requirements for retaining their registration.

The court also restrained INEC from recognising the affected parties, accepting nominations from them or allowing them to participate in the 2027 general elections. It further ordered the parties to stop presenting themselves as registered political parties after upholding a suit filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL).

The NFFL had argued that the parties failed to meet the electoral performance thresholds stipulated under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022 and relevant INEC regulations.

According to the group, the parties neither secured at least 25 per cent of the votes in a state during the presidential election nor won any elective office at the federal, state or local government levels in the 2023 general elections and subsequent by-elections.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, supported the suit, arguing that allowing the affected parties to remain registered violated the Constitution and undermined the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system.

However, dissatisfied with the judgment, the affected political parties and INEC appealed the decision.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal had on June 16 granted a stay of execution of the Federal High Court’s judgment.

The appellate court had criticised Justice Lifu for proceeding with the matter despite its earlier order directing him to stay proceedings pending the determination of an interlocutory appeal.

 It had described the judge’s conduct as “a form of judicial impertinence” and noted that the Supreme Court had previously characterised such conduct as “judicial rascality.”

The intermediate appellate court is set to deliver judgment in the case on a date to be communicated to the parties.