Appeal Court reserves verdict in ADC, four parties’ challenge against deregistration

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved judgment in separate appeals filed by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties seeking to overturn a Federal High Court ruling that ordered their deregistration.

A three-member panel of the appellate court, headed by Justice Abba Bello Mohammed, fixed judgment for a later date after lawyers representing the parties adopted their written briefs and presented final arguments.

The affected parties are the ADC, Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

During proceedings, counsel to the Accord Party, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), urged the court to nullify the judgment of the lower court, arguing that the trial judge erred in law and arrived at conclusions that were not supported by the applicable legal provisions.

He maintained that the decision was fundamentally flawed and should be set aside in the interest of justice.

The appeals arose from a judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the five political parties for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral requirements necessary to retain their registration.

In the judgment delivered in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, the court also restrained INEC from recognising the parties, accepting candidates nominated by them or permitting them to participate in the 2027 general elections.

Justice Lifu further ruled that the parties could no longer present themselves as registered political organisations.

The case was instituted by the National Forum of Former Legislators, which argued that the affected parties failed to meet the performance benchmarks stipulated under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution and relevant provisions of the Electoral Act.

The plaintiffs contended that the parties neither secured at least 25 per cent of votes in any state during the presidential election nor won elective offices at the federal, state or local government levels in the 2023 general elections and subsequent by-elections.

They argued that INEC was constitutionally obligated to remove such parties from its register.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), supported the suit, maintaining that retaining the parties on the electoral register would amount to a violation of constitutional provisions governing political party registration.

Following the ruling, the affected political parties, alongside INEC, filed appeals challenging the decision.

Earlier, on June 16, the Court of Appeal granted a stay of execution of the Federal High Court judgment pending the determination of the appeals.

In that ruling, the appellate court criticised Justice Lifu for continuing proceedings despite an earlier directive ordering a suspension of the case pending the resolution of an interlocutory appeal.

The court described the action as inappropriate and referenced previous Supreme Court decisions condemning such conduct by judicial officers.

After hearing arguments from all parties on Tuesday, the appellate panel, which also included Justices Donatus Okorowo and Oyebisi Oyewumi, reserved judgment and said the date for delivery of the verdict would be communicated to the parties.