Appeal Court Overturns Order Asking INEC to Deregister ADC, Accord, Others

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside the judgement of the Federal High Court that ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

The appellate court ruled that the plaintiff in the matter, which is the National Forum of Former Legislators, was not a juristic person recognised by law and, therefore, lacked the legal capacity to institute the action.

Recall that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court gave the order in a case filed to call for the deregistration of some political parties instituted by the Forum of Former Legislators. Apart from the ADC, the court also directed the electoral body to deregister the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026 filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators, the plaintiff asked the court to determine the constitutional obligation to remove political parties that do not meet the electoral performance thresholds set out in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as reinforced by the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s regulations.

In their argument, the forum of legislators argued that the five affected political parties had consistently failed to secure 25 percent votes in a state during a presidential election or win elective positions at the national, state, and local government levels. The plaintiff also argued that the parties failed to achieve the required electoral performance in the 2023 general election and the subsequent bye-elections conducted by INEC.

Meanwhile, Section 225A of the Nigerian Constitution empowers the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to de-register political parties that perform poorly in elections. The law, which was enacted through the Fourth Alteration Act, establishes strict minimum thresholds that a party must meet during an election cycle to maintain its legal registration status.

The law also mandates that to avoid de-registration, a political party must achieve at least one specific milestone across federal, state, or local levels. This includes securing at least 25% of the votes in one state during a presidential election or in one local government area during a governorship election.

Alternatively, the party must win at least one seat in the National Assembly, a State House of Assembly, or a local government council. Based on this ground, the High Court restrained the electoral commission from recognising the parties, accepting nominations from them or allowing them to participate in the 2027 general election.

Dissatisfied with the decision, the affected parties challenged the judgment at the Court of Appeal.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by a three-member panel, the appellate court held that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

Justice Abba Mohammed, who delivered the lead judgment, held that the National Forum of Former Legislators was not a juristic person recognised by law and, therefore, lacked the legal capacity to institute the action.

The court said that the defect made the whole case invalid, so there was no valid suit for the trial court to order INEC to withdraw recognition from the affected political parties.

The appellate court consequently declared the June 15 judgement and all consequential orders, including the directive for the deregistration of the five political parties and their exclusion from the 2027 general election, invalid.

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