The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday reserved judgment in the appeal filed by five political parties seeking to overturn a Federal High Court ruling ordering their deregistration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The affected parties are Accord, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Action People’s Party (APP), the Action Alliance (AA) and the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
A three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Abba Mohammed reserved judgment after listening to arguments from lawyers representing all parties in the case.
Justice Mohammed said a date for the judgment would be communicated to the parties.
The appellants urged the appellate court to set aside the lower court’s decision, insisting that the Federal High Court misapplied the law and wrongly ordered their deregistration.
They argued that the judgment was inconsistent with the constitutional provisions governing the registration and continued existence of political parties in Nigeria.
The respondents in the appeal are the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL), which instituted the original suit, INEC and the affected political parties.
Counsel to the NFFL, however, urged the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal and uphold the judgment of the lower court, maintaining that the political parties no longer met the constitutional requirements for retaining their registration.
The case stemmed from a suit filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators seeking the interpretation of Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers INEC to deregister political parties under certain conditions.
The forum argued that several political parties had allegedly failed to comply with constitutional and statutory requirements necessary for their continued existence under the Constitution and the Electoral Act and asked the court to compel INEC to remove them from the register.
The Federal High Court agreed with the forum and ordered INEC to deregister the affected parties, prompting the appeal.
With arguments now concluded, all parties await the Court of Appeal’s verdict, which is expected to clarify the extent of INEC’s constitutional powers to deregister political parties.
The judgment is also expected to have far-reaching implications for Nigeria’s multi-party democracy as political activities gather momentum ahead of the 2027 general elections.
