Appeal Court Throws Out Order to Deregister ADC and Four Other Political Parties
By: Abudu Olalekan
Well, this one just got overturned. And honestly? It was coming.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has set aside a Federal High Court judgment that had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister the African Democratic Congress and four other political parties. The ruling was unanimous. All three justices on the panel agreed — the lower court got it wrong.
That Federal High Court decision, delivered on June fifteenth by Justice Peter Lifu, had sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s political landscape. It would have effectively kicked five parties off the ballot ahead of the 2027 general elections. But now? It’s dead in the water.
What the Appeal Court Actually Said
The appellate court, in a lead judgment delivered by Justice Abba Mohammed, didn’t just disagree with the lower court. It dismantled the whole thing.
First, the court said the original suit was filed by a non-juristic entity — meaning the National Forum of Former Legislators, the group that brought the case, didn’t have the legal standing to do so. And if the suit itself was incompetent from the start, then everything that came out of it, including the deregistration order, was a nullity.
That’s a pretty fundamental problem. You can’t build a valid judgment on an invalid foundation.
But the Appeal Court went further. It ruled that the lower court wrongly assumed jurisdiction over the case. It said Justice Lifu failed to properly assess the evidence before him — including proof that some of the affected parties had actually won seats in previous elections. That detail matters a lot, because the whole argument for deregistration was that these parties hadn’t met constitutional performance thresholds.
The court also pointed out something that had already raised eyebrows in legal circles. The Appeal Court had issued an order on May twenty-second directing Justice Lifu to halt proceedings pending the outcome of an appeal. He didn’t listen. He went ahead and delivered judgment anyway.
The panel did not take that lightly.
“Judicial Impertinence”
Those are the Appeal Court’s words. Not mine.
The panel described Justice Lifu’s decision to proceed despite being aware of the stay order as “a form of judicial impertinence.” They referenced Supreme Court precedent holding that a judge who behaves that way “is unfit for the bench, as the conduct amounts to judicial rascality.”
That’s about as harsh as appellate courts get. And they clearly meant it.
The Appeal Court had already stepped in on June sixteenth — the day after the High Court ruling — to stay execution of the judgment. But now the full decision has come through, and it leaves no room for ambiguity. The deregistration order is gone.
The Five Parties Are Still Standing
So just to be clear, all five political parties affected by the original ruling remain duly registered. They are:
- African Democratic Congress (ADC)
- Action Peoples Party (APP)
- Action Alliance (AA)
- Accord Party (AP)
- Zenith Labour Party (ZLP)
The Appeal Court allowed their separate appeals and awarded costs against the NFFL. That’s a full reversal. These parties can field candidates, campaign, and participate in the 2027 elections as normal.
How We Got Here
Here’s the backstory. The National Forum of Former Legislators had filed a suit — marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026 — asking the court to determine whether INEC was constitutionally obligated to deregister parties that failed to meet performance benchmarks under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022, and INEC’s own regulations.
The group argued the five parties had performed poorly in the 2023 general elections and subsequent by-elections. They said the parties didn’t win twenty-five percent of votes in any state during the presidential election and didn’t secure elective seats at the national, state, or local government levels. Continued recognition of these parties, the NFFL argued, was unlawful and weakened electoral integrity.
And here’s an interesting wrinkle — the Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, who was technically a defendant in the case, actually sided with the plaintiffs. In court documents, the AGF argued that keeping these parties registered violated the constitution and undermined the country’s electoral system. He said without court intervention, INEC would continue breaching its constitutional duty.
Justice Lifu agreed with those arguments and ordered INEC to deregister all five parties. He barred the commission from recognizing them, accepting their candidates, or allowing them anywhere near the 2027 ballot.
But as of today, all of that has been swept away by the Appeal Court.
What Happens Now
The affected parties are back in business. Legally, it’s as if the Federal High Court ruling never happened. Whether the NFFL or the AGF decide to take this to the Supreme Court remains to be seen, but for now, the status quo has been firmly restored.
The real question going forward is whether there will be renewed efforts to trim Nigeria’s crowded political party landscape through other legal channels — or whether this ruling puts those ambitions on ice for a while.
Either way, five parties just dodged what could have been a death sentence heading into 2027. And the judge who tried to deliver it got called out in language you don’t often hear from an appellate bench.
Olalekan A. Abudu is a seasoned and dedicated News Journalist at REPORTERS ROOM, with over eight years of experience. He specializes in politics, climate change, health, and education, while also covering security, economic, and judicial issues. Committed to accuracy and balanced reporting, Olalekan exemplifies the principles of public-interest journalism.
