A Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties, citing their failure to meet constitutional requirements for continued registration.
Presiding over the case, Justice Peter Lifu ruled on Monday that these parties violated Section 225 of the Nigerian Constitution. This section empowers INEC to deregister political parties that do not win any elective positions at the federal, state, or local government levels in the preceding elections.
The judgment results from a lawsuit filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators against INEC, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the affected opposition parties. In addition to the ADC, the parties impacted by the court’s order include Accord, Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
According to the plaintiffs, the targeted parties no longer satisfied the constitutional criteria for maintaining their status as registered political parties. Relying on Section 225(a) of the Constitution and the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act, they argued that the parties in question failed to win elective offices or fulfill other minimum electoral requirements. They asked the court to declare that INEC is constitutionally obligated to remove such parties from its register and bar them from contesting future elections. The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, was listed as a defendant but supported the suit and its reliefs.
The ruling is expected to have significant consequences for the forthcoming general elections set to take place in seven to eight months as well as the off-cycle governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states scheduled for June and August. An immediate enforcement of the judgment would lead to the automatic disqualification of all candidates from the deregistered parties, potentially reshaping the political landscape.
Notably, this affects leading contenders such as Atiku Abubakar recently selected as the ADC’s presidential candidate and Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, who is seeking a second term under the Accord party in the upcoming August gubernatorial election.
