Tension As Court Orders INEC To Deregister ADC, APP, Others

Tension As Court Orders INEC To Deregister ADC, APP, Others

Some eminent parties in Nigeria are billed to receive some strokes from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, if what Federal High Court in Abuja ruled on Monday. According to information available to Trumpeta, the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Accord Party (AP), and three other political parties.

Justice Peter Lifu, who delivered the judgment, also directed that the order apply to the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

The ruling stemmed from a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators.

In the suit, the plaintiffs asked the court to determine whether INEC has a constitutional obligation to deregister political parties that fail to meet the performance thresholds set out in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022, and INEC regulations.

According to the former legislators, the five political parties had consistently failed to meet the required constitutional benchmarks. These include winning at least 25 percent of votes in a state during a presidential election or securing at least one elective seat at the national, state, or local government level.

They further told the court that the ADC and the four other parties performed poorly in the 2023 general elections and subsequent by-elections, failing to secure seats across key tiers of government. The plaintiffs argued that the continued recognition of the parties is unlawful and undermines the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system.

On that basis, they urged the court to declare that INEC is duty-bound to deregister such parties and compel the commission to do so before preparations for the 2027 elections progress further. They also sought, and obtained, an order restraining the affected parties from participating in elections or engaging in political activities such as campaigns, rallies, and primaries.

Additionally, the suit sought an injunction barring INEC from recognizing or dealing with the parties in any official capacity.

Since the judgement dropped, Trumpeta observed that tension has enveloped the country with Imo state not left out in the radar of apprehension.

The reason is because the affected parties the Federal High Court asked for their deregistration have candidates for the coming general election.

This newspaper can reveal that oblivious of what was ahead, the parties conducted primaries within the INEC window supervised by the electoral body which led to the emergence of candidates.

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