Court scraps ADC, four parties: 2027 battle sparks opposition fury
By: Abudu Olalekan
It started with a court order. Then all hell broke loose.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja dropped a bombshell Monday. Five opposition parties—ADC, Accord Party, Action Peoples Party, Action Alliance, and Zenith Labour Party—is effectively gone. Deregistered. Wiped off INEC’s books, if the ruling stands.
The opposition isn’t taking it laying down.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who’s flying the ADC flag for 2027, didn’t mince words. “This is authoritarian,” he said. And he had a legal grenade to throw too—the Court of Appeal had already hit the pause button on this case back in May. A stay of proceedings. Which supposedly means everything stops. Judgments included.
But Lifu ruled anyway.
“The delivery of judgement is still part of the proceedings,” Atiku’s team quoted from the Appeal Court records. So here we are.
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State is fuming. His Accord Party is one of the five on the chopping block. “They want to stop Osun people from voting,” he said. “It won’t work.” He’s telling supporters to stay calm, but mobilize. The campaign launch goes ahead today, court order or no court order. He says they’ll be on the ballot come August 15th.
Here’s where it gets messy. The National Forum of Former Legislators brought this suit. They argued these parties flunked Section 225A of the Constitution—basically, they didn’t win enough seats or pull 25 percent in any state during presidential polls. Dead weight, legally speaking.
But here’s the twist. INEC themselves told the court these parties was fine. “No constitutional violations,” the electoral body said. “No basis for deregistration.”
So why the ruling? The opposition has a theory.
Senator David Mark, ADC’s National Chairman, calls it “an arrow fired at the heart of democracy.” Atiku goes further. He says it’s Tinubu’s administration trying to clear the field for 2027. “Political elimination by other means,” he called it.
The timing stinks, they say. ADC just finished primaries. They’ve got candidates lined up from president down to councilor. Now this?
Mark isn’t sweating it, though. “The judgment cannot stand,” he said flatly. Higher courts will fix it, he promises. He further assured his supporters that his legal team are doing everything ppossible to address the issue in the accordance with the law.
Other voices are piling on. Yunusa Tanko of the Obidient Movement says the government is “trying to set this country ablaze.” Rufus Aiyenigba of the SDP calls it a “recipe for national crisis.”
Even the Tanimu Turaki faction of the PDP weighed in. “Huge attempt at derailing democracy,” said Ini Ememobong.
But not everyone’s panicking. Osa Director of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, who’s also a lawyer, says appeal the thing. “Exercise those rights,” he advised. “No need to panic.”
The legal standoff is this: The Appeal Court said stop. The High Court went ahead. Now what? If court orders become optional, Atiku warns, “the rule of law itself is in grave danger.”
For now, the parties are in limbo. But they’re betting on the Appeal Court to sort this mess. As Mark put it: “We will be on the ballot in 2027. No matter what.”
