Court Faults INEC Over ADA Code, Orders Release to Rickett Camp in 72 Hours

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to generate and release a registration access code to the Chief Akin Rickett-led leadership of the All Democratic Alliance within 72 hours, clearing the way for the association to continue its bid for registration as a political party.

Justice Peter Lifu delivered the judgment on Monday, directing the commission to hand the code to the association’s Protem Secretary and to reopen its registration portal for one week so the leadership can upload the party’s digital membership register and other statutory documents.

The court held that INEC acted unlawfully when it issued the access code to Umar Ardo, whom Justice Lifu found was neither the recognised Protem National Chairman nor the Protem Secretary of the association. The judge declared the commission’s decision to release the code to Ardo “illegal, wrongful, null and void,” and nullified every document and action taken by Ardo in pursuit of the party’s registration.

The suit was instituted through the association’s counsel, Stephen Atabo, after INEC allegedly declined to issue the code required to upload registration documents in line with the Electoral Act and the commission’s guidelines. The plaintiff argued that the commission breached the law by recognising Ardo instead of the Rickett-led leadership, and that the information Ardo uploaded was at variance with the details in the association’s original letter of intent.

Beyond the code, the plaintiff asked the court to compel INEC to register the association and issue it a certificate of registration, and to extend the commission’s May 10, 2026 deadline for submitting the digital membership register and the May 30, 2026 deadline for submitting candidates. The plaintiff had sought 96 hours for compliance, but Justice Lifu granted INEC 72 hours.

The ruling is the latest twist in a leadership tussle over the proposed ADA, one of the platforms promoted by opposition figures ahead of the 2027 general elections. PREMIUM TIMES reported in June last year that the coalition seeking to register the ADA submitted its application to INEC with Mr Rickett as Protem National Chairman. The latest dispute followed an earlier challenge by Ardo and other promoters of the ADA, which Justice Emeka Nwite dismissed for being commenced through the wrong procedure.

The judgment lands amid mounting anxiety over the space for opposition politics. On June 15, Justice Lifu ordered INEC to deregister the African Democratic Congress, Accord, Action Peoples Party, Action Alliance and Zenith Labour Party for failing to meet the constitutional performance threshold under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution. Days later, a Federal High Court in Lokoja set aside a December 10, 2025 judgment that had compelled INEC to register the Nigeria Democratic Congress, the platform on which Peter Obi is expected to contest.

Opposition leaders have read the rulings as a pattern. The African Democratic Congress has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress-led government of attempting to weaken opposition parties to secure an uncontested path to re-election, an allegation repeatedly denied by President Bola Tinubu and the APC.

The timeline lends weight to the stakes. INEC has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections for January 16, 2027, with campaigns for those polls due to begin on August 19, 2026. For the ADA, the court’s seven-day window now becomes the narrow path to securing a place on the register before that clock runs down. INEC had not issued a formal response to the judgment as of press time, consistent with its stated practice of awaiting certified true copies of court rulings before acting.

ADA, INEC, Akin Rickett, Umar Ardo, Justice Peter Lifu, Federal High Court, Political Party Registration, 2027 Elections, Stephen Atabo, Opposition Parties