Appeal Court Resumes Hearing in Battle Over ADC, four parties’ deregistration

• Five political parties seek reversal of judgment ordering their removal from INEC register
• Appeal Court to hear substantive arguments after earlier halting enforcement of lower court ruling
• Federal High Court also fines ADC chieftain N100m, dismisses suit against judges

Fresh legal arguments will unfold at the Court of Appeal in Abuja today as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties intensify efforts to overturn a Federal High Court judgment that ordered their deregistration.

A three-member panel of the appellate court, headed by Justice Abba Mohammed, is scheduled to hear the substantive appeals filed by the affected parties after preliminary proceedings concluded last month.

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The parties challenging the lower court’s decision are the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

The legal contest follows an earlier decision of the Court of Appeal, which suspended the enforcement of the deregistration order pending the determination of the appeals.

In that ruling, the appellate court faulted the trial judge, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, for proceeding with the case despite an earlier directive ordering a stay of proceedings.

READ ALSO: NDC Rejects Lokoja Court Ruling, Heads to Appeal Over Party Registration

The appellate court held that the trial judge ignored a subsisting order issued on May 22 and described the action as inconsistent with established judicial procedure.

Justice Lifu had ruled that the five political parties no longer met the constitutional conditions required to retain their registration and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove them from its register.

The judgment also restrained INEC from recognising the affected parties, accepting candidates nominated by them or allowing them to participate in preparations for the 2027 general elections.

The suit was instituted by the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL), which argued that the parties failed to satisfy the performance benchmarks stipulated under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC regulations.

According to the plaintiffs, the parties neither secured the required electoral support in presidential elections nor won elective positions at the federal, state or local government levels.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), supported the position of the plaintiffs, maintaining that retaining parties that no longer satisfy constitutional requirements weakens Nigeria’s electoral system.

However, the affected political parties and INEC have urged the Court of Appeal to overturn the judgment, insisting that the decision was reached in error.

ADC official fined N100m

Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the National Welfare Secretary of the ADC, Nkemakolam Ukandu, to pay N100 million in damages after striking out his suit against two Federal High Court judges.

Justice Salim Ibrahim awarded N50 million each to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, and Justice Peter Lifu following an application by counsel representing the judges.

The court directed that the money be paid within 14 days.

Justice Ibrahim also dismissed the suit for lack of diligent prosecution after neither Ukandu nor his lawyer appeared when the matter was called.

Ukandu had sought an order compelling the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate allegations of bias, abuse of judicial powers and corruption against the two judges over cases relating to the leadership dispute within the ADC.

The court had previously warned that the matter could be dismissed if the plaintiff failed to prosecute the case. Monday’s proceedings brought the litigation to an end with both the dismissal and the award of punitive costs.