Breaking: Court Affirms INEC’s Decision To Deregister 32 Political Parties

The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister 32 political parties.

Justice Anwuli Chikere in her ruling on Thursday dismissed the suit filed by the parties against the power of INEC to deregister them.

The judge held that the commission rightly deregistered the parties in line with the provision of section 225(a) of the Nigerian Constitution.

Recall that INEC deregistered 74 political parties on February 6, 2020, on the grounds of poor performance at the 2019 general elections.

The parties had filed a suit to restain INEC from carrying out the exercise when the commission revealed its plan.

The judge had earlier on February 17, this year, issued an order restraining INEC from acting on the notice deregistering the 32 political parties, pending the determination of the suit.

But Thursday’s judgment by the court discharged the restraining order as it validated the commission’s action.

Some of the affected 32 political parties are Advanced Congress of Democrats, Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party, All Blending Party, All Grand Alliance Party, Better Nigeria Progressive Party, Democratic People’s Congress, Freedom and Justice Party, and Green Party of Nigeria.