The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja to stay the execution of a Federal High Court judgment ordering the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.
The commission also backed a notice of appeal filed by the affected political parties.
Addressing a three-member panel of the appellate court on Tuesday, INEC said it was shocked that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, delivered the judgment despite an order restraining him from doing so.
INEC, through its legal team led by Haliru Mohammed, said it was not notified that the judgment would be delivered.
The commission said it only heard about the decision through media reports.
INEC stated, “My Lords, we are aware of an order that this court made on May 22, which stopped the delivery of the judgment of the lower court, which was initially reserved for delivery on June 5.
“We were not aware of any notice from the court regarding the delivery of the judgment. We only saw it as breaking news in the media.
“We therefore do not oppose the application of the appellant to stay the execution of the judgment.”
ADC Alleges Judgment Notice Came Via WhatsApp
Counsel for the ADC, Shuaibu Aruwa (SAN), told the appellate court that Justice Lifu notified the party of the judgment delivery through WhatsApp.
Aruwa described the decision of the lower court as an invitation to anarchy and urged the Court of Appeal to sanction the trial judge for allegedly disregarding the judicial hierarchy.
“Sincerely, my Lords, a lot has happened to the judiciary and this profession. What the trial judge did was dare this Court of Appeal by insisting that no one could arrest his judgment, even after his attention was drawn to the stay order from this court.
“The action of the trial judge calls for swift and extraordinary measures from this court. We have come to the stage where this court should press the reset button.
“We are calling on this court to exercise disciplinary jurisdiction under Section 6 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
“We urge this court to take disciplinary steps by immediately suspending that judgment. This court has the power to protect its own integrity. We pray this court suspends the judgment immediately without further delay,” he submitted.
Aside from the ADC, the other parties ordered to be deregistered by the Federal High Court are the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (A) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
Justice Lifu had held that the five political parties failed to meet constitutional requirements for their continued existence and participation in future elections.
The court barred INEC from further recognising the parties, accepting nominations from them or giving effect to their activities for the purpose of participating in the 2027 general elections.
The judge also ordered the defendants to stop parading themselves as registered political parties in Nigeria.
Justice Lifu held that there was merit in the suit filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, asked the court to determine whether INEC had a constitutional obligation to deregister political parties that failed to meet the electoral performance thresholds set out in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and reinforced by the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC regulations.
The former legislators argued that the affected parties had repeatedly failed to meet the constitutional benchmarks required to retain their registration.
They said the requirements included winning at least 25 per cent of votes in a state during a presidential election or securing at least one elective seat at the national, state or local government level.
The plaintiffs claimed that the ADC and the four other parties performed poorly in the 2023 general elections and by-elections conducted by INEC.
They argued that the continued recognition of the parties was unlawful and undermined the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system.
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