Appeal Court Nullifies Order Deregistering ADC, Four Parties
The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday restored the registration of the African Democratic Congress and four other political parties, vacating a Federal High Court judgment that had directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to strike them off the register with preparations for the 2027 general elections already under way.
A three member panel led by Justice Abba Mohammed ruled unanimously that the June 15 judgment of the Federal High Court was a nullity, having been delivered without jurisdiction. The panel held that the trial court wrongly assumed jurisdiction over an incompetent suit filed by a non juristic entity, leaving no valid action to support the order that directed INEC to deregister the parties.
The appellate court also faulted the handling of evidence at the lower court, noting that proof showing the affected parties had won elective seats in earlier polls was ignored. It held further that the trial court proceeded in defiance of a May 22 order directing it to stay proceedings pending an interlocutory appeal, conduct the panel described as “a form of judicial impertinence.” Citing the Supreme Court, it added that a judge who acts in that manner “is unfit for the bench, as the conduct amounts to judicial rascality.”
The affected parties are the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP). The court allowed the separate appeals filed by the parties and by INEC, declared all five duly registered, and awarded costs against the National Forum of Former Legislators, which instituted the original suit.
The dispute stems from the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, in which the forum asked the court to decide whether INEC was bound under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the Electoral Act 2022 and the commission’s regulations to remove parties that fail to meet electoral performance thresholds. Those benchmarks require a party to win at least 25 percent of votes in a state during a presidential election, or secure at least one elective seat at the national, state or local government level.
The plaintiffs argued that the five parties failed those tests in the 2023 general election and later by-elections, rendering their continued registration unconstitutional. The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who joined as a defendant, aligned with them, contending that retaining the parties undermined electoral integrity.
Justice Peter Lifu had, on June 15, ordered INEC to deregister the parties, restrained the commission from recognising them or accepting their candidates, and barred them from the 2027 elections. The Court of Appeal stayed execution on June 16 and reserved judgment on July 14 after all sides adopted their briefs.
The verdict reaches well beyond the five parties. Since July 2025, the ADC has served as the unified platform for a broad opposition coalition seeking to unseat President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2027. Its leading figures include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Anambra governor Peter Obi, interim national chairman and former Senate President David Mark, former Osun governor Rauf Aregbesola, and former governors Nasir El-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi. At the coalition’s unveiling, Mark said the aim was to rebuild “the crumbling pillars of Nigeria’s democracy” and to resist a slide toward a one party state.
The parties now cleared were themselves survivors of an earlier purge. On February 6, 2020, INEC deregistered 74 of the 92 registered parties for poor showing in the 2019 general election, leaving only 18, a decision that triggered years of litigation. The ADC, Action Alliance, Accord Party and Zenith Labour Party were among the survivors then, while the Action Peoples Party retained its status through a court order. Tuesday’s ruling keeps the opposition platform intact, though it remains open to a further appeal at the Supreme Court.