Appeal in Abuja.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has reinstated
22 political parties de-registered by the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC).
Some of the parties reinstated by the court are Advanced
Congress of Democrats (ACD) and Progressive Peoples Alliance
(PPA).
Their de-registration was reversed on Monday in a judgment
prepared and signed by the President of the Court of Appeal,
Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem.
In a unanimous decision, the court declared as illegal,
unconstitutional, null and void, the judgement of the Federal High
Court upholding INEC’s action de-registering the political
parties.
A four-man panel of judges led by Justice Sodipe Lokulo held
that the de-registration was illegal because the due process was
not followed.
The court also held that INEC’s action was not in compliance
with Section 225(a)of the 1999 Constitution as amended, as the
electoral umpire did not indicate reasons for the de-registration
of the political parties.
Mahmood Yakubu, at a press conference in Abuja on March 7, 2019.
Channels TV/ Sodiq Adelakun.
On February 6, INEC announced that it had deregistered 74 out of
the 91 political parties in the country.
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It said it took the decision following a review of the
performance of political parties after the 2019 general elections
to see which parties qualify to exists.
Although a total of 75 parties were listed for deregistration,
one of them – Action People’s Party (APP) – had obtained a court
order restraining the electoral umpire from deregistering it.
The electoral umpire stated that the 1999 Constitution vested in
it the power to register and regulate the activities of political
parties.
It added that the Constitution was amended in 2018 and in
addition to the extant provision for the registration of political
parties, the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution (Section 225A)
empowered the commission to deregister political parties.
Dissatisfied with the development, some of the political parties
tested the legality of INEC’s action at the Federal High Court in
Abuja.
But in a judgement delivered in June, Justice Taiwo Taiwo
reaffirmed the powers of the electoral umpire to deregister
political parties in the country.