The Court of Appeal quashes the order deregistering ADC, Accord and other political parties

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday overturned a ruling ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.

The other parties are the Action Peoples Party (APP), the Action Alliance (AA), the Accord Party (AP) and the Zenith Labor Party (ZLP).

The Court of Appeal, with a unanimous decision of a panel of three judges, deemed the provision issued on 15 June by the Federal High Court against the electoral body to be null and void.

The court held that the High Court had wrongly assumed jurisdiction and passed the order on an incompetent suit filed by a non-legal body.

According to the court of appeal, there was no valid cause that could have justified the consequential order directing INEC to cancel the recognition of political parties.

He noted that the court of first instance did not adequately evaluate the evidence presented to it, pointing out that evidence that parties had won various seats in previous elections had been ignored.

It also found that the High Court had acted in breach of an order directing it to stay proceedings in the case.

He held that the High Court should have dismissed the case on merits for lack of jurisdiction and merits.

Accordingly, the Court of Appeal, in its judgment delivered by Justice Abba Mohammed, held that all affected political parties remained duly registered.

It allowed separate appeals filed by the political parties and awarded monetary costs against the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL), which had filed a case against them.

The appeal court had on June 16 ordered a stay of the execution of the High Court ruling, even as it criticized the trial judge for ignoring the judicial hierarchy.

The commission reprimanded Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, for disobeying an order issued on May 22 directing him to stay the proceedings pending the outcome of an appeal by the parties.

He noted that although the trial judge’s attention had been drawn to the order to stay the proceedings, he intentionally disregarded it and continued to pass sentence.

He found Judge Lifu’s action to be “a form of judicial impertinence”, pointing out that the Supreme Court had previously held that a judge acting in this manner “is unfit for office, as the conduct amounts to judicial rascality”.
The High Court had ordered INEC to deregister the five political parties, which it said had failed to meet the constitutional requirements necessary to ensure their continued existence and participation in future elections.

It also prohibited INEC from granting further recognition to parties, from accepting nominations of candidates from the parties concerned or from implementing their activities for the purpose of participating in the 2027 general elections.

Judge Lifu ordered the defendants to stop presenting themselves as registered political parties in the country, saying he found the case brought by the NFFL to have merit.

The NFFL, in the case marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, had asked the court to determine whether INEC has a constitutional obligation to remove political parties that fail to meet the electoral performance thresholds set out in section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as strengthened by the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC regulations.

The appellants’ position was that the five political parties listed as defendants had persistently failed to meet the constitutional parameters required to maintain their registration.

Previous lawmakers have emphasized that the requirements include winning at least 25% of the vote in a state during a presidential election or securing at least one elective seat at the national, state or local government level.

They told the court that the ADC and the other four parties had performed poorly in both the 2023 general elections and the by-elections conducted by INEC, thus failing to win seats at key levels of government.

The litigants insisted that the continued existence of the ADC and the other defendants as recognized political parties is illegal and undermines the integrity of the country’s electoral system.

Notably, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, who is also a defendant in the matter, has thrown his weight behind the plaintiffs.

In submissions before the court, the AGF argued that the continued existence of the said political parties violates the existing provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and ultimately undermines the electoral integrity of the nation.

The AGF argued that unless the court intervened, INEC would continue to act in breach of its constitutional duty by detaining parties who had failed to meet the minimum requirements prescribed by law.

Dissatisfied with the trial court’s verdict, all the defendants, including INEC, urged the court of appeal to set it aside.