A Nigerian court has set aside its own earlier judgment that directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to recognise the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, as a registered political party. The ruling, delivered on Friday by Justice Issa Dantian, reopens questions over the standing of a party whose recognition had appeared settled by the court only months earlier.
At the heart of the decision is the court's finding that its judgment of December 10, 2025 had adversely affected the rights of the Peace Movement Party, the PMP. The judge noted that the PMP was never joined as a party in the original suit, even though it had a direct interest in the outcome and went on to challenge the basis on which the NDC secured its recognition.
Central to the dispute is a party logo. The Peace Movement Party claimed ownership of the very logo that was relied upon to obtain the December judgment, arguing that a decision built on that emblem could not stand without the party that owns it being heard. That claim became the pivot on which the court reconsidered the entire matter.
Speaking to journalists, counsel identified as Ekeocha explained that the PMP approached the court after discovering that the NDC's registration had been based on the logo the movement had previously submitted to INEC, before the commencement of the suit. In the party's account, the registration therefore rested on an emblem it considered its own property.
According to the account given, the court agreed that the applicant's rights had indeed been affected and consequently vacated the earlier judgment. By setting aside its December decision, the court effectively pulled away the legal foundation on which the NDC's recognition as a registered party had been built.
The effect of the new ruling is far-reaching. It restores all the parties to the positions they occupied before the December 2025 judgment, effectively reversing every action that INEC had taken on the strength of that decision. In practice, steps the commission took to give effect to the recognition are unwound by the order.
With the earlier judgment vacated, the case will now return to court for a fresh hearing in which all the relevant parties are expected to participate before a new determination is made. That means the contest over the disputed logo and the status of the Nigeria Democratic Congress will be argued again, this time with the Peace Movement Party formally at the table.
Reacting to the decision, the Nigeria Democratic Congress insisted that its standing as a registered party remains intact. The party's national secretary said that although the court had set aside its earlier judgment, no part of the ruling contained an order deregistering the NDC. On that basis, he maintained, the party is still subsisting, has not been deregistered, and will continue to operate as normal.
The party also signalled that it would not let the ruling stand unchallenged. According to the secretary, the NDC has already commenced the process of appealing the judgment, with its lawyers working to set aside what the court did on the day. He added that the decision raises no question over the party's candidates or their candidature in the coming elections, returning to the court's own reasoning that the Peace Movement Party ought to have been joined in the original proceedings.