Appeal Court To Hear Suit De-registering ADC, Four Other Parties Today

The Court of Appeal in Abuja is set to resume hearing today in the legal battle over the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.

Naija News reports that this follows appeals seeking to overturn a Federal High Court judgment that ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove them from its register.

According to Vanguard, the case will be heard by a three-member panel headed by Justice Abba Mohammed.

The court had earlier, on June 25, completed preliminary proceedings that allowed all parties involved to regularise and confirm the documents filed before fixing the matter for a full hearing.

Apart from the ADC, the other political parties challenging the High Court judgment are the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

The legal dispute has continued after the Appeal Court, on June 16, suspended the enforcement of the High Court judgment pending the outcome of the appeals.

The appellate court also faulted the trial judge, Justice Peter Lifu, for proceeding with the case despite an earlier order directing him to stop further action until the appeal was decided.

According to the Appeal Court, the trial judge was informed about the order issued on May 22, but still went ahead to deliver judgment.

The panel ruled that the decision was against the judicial process and referred to previous Supreme Court decisions that condemned such conduct by judges.

Justice Lifu had ordered INEC to deregister the five political parties after ruling that they failed to satisfy constitutional conditions required to remain registered and participate in future elections.

The judgment also stopped INEC from recognising the affected parties, accepting candidates nominated by them, or allowing them to take part in activities leading to the 2027 general elections.

The court further directed the parties to stop presenting themselves as registered political parties in Nigeria after agreeing with the arguments brought before it by the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL).

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, the NFFL asked the court to decide whether INEC has a constitutional duty to deregister political parties that fail to meet the performance requirements stated in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, together with the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s regulations.

The group argued that the ADC and the four other parties had repeatedly failed to meet the required electoral standard needed to remain on the register of political parties.

According to the former lawmakers, political parties are expected to win at least 25 per cent of votes in a state during a presidential election or secure at least one elective position at the national, state, or local government level.

They claimed that the affected parties performed poorly during the 2023 general elections and subsequent by-elections conducted by INEC, failing to win enough elective offices across the country.

The plaintiffs maintained that allowing the parties to remain registered despite their performance was against the law and could weaken the country’s electoral process.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who is also listed as a defendant in the case, supported the position of the plaintiffs.

In court documents, the Attorney General argued that keeping the political parties on the register despite failing to meet constitutional requirements goes against the law.

He also maintained that unless the court intervened, INEC would continue to neglect its constitutional responsibility by retaining parties that no longer met the conditions for registration.

However, INEC and all the affected political parties rejected the High Court judgment and have asked the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision and restore their legal status.