A judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress and four other political parties, ruling that they failed to meet the constitutional requirements for political parties in Nigeria. The judgment removes the affected parties from the official register of recognised political associations.
In the ruling, the court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister the parties concerned. The judge held that the parties had failed to secure 25 percent of the votes in the last general elections, falling short of the threshold set out in the provisions of the law for parties to retain their registration.
The court further ordered that the electoral commission should not allow the affected parties to participate in any subsequent elections. According to the judgment, this restriction extends to the 2027 general polls, since the parties had not met the constitutional threshold required to remain relevant under the law.
The suit that led to the judgment was filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of former legislators. The group brought the case against the five political parties, asking the court to order their deregistration on the grounds that they had not satisfied the legal conditions attached to their continued operation.
In its arguments, the forum contended that the affected parties had failed to meet the requirements relating to electoral spread and performance. It maintained that political parties were required to secure at least 25 percent of votes in the prescribed elections in order to remain relevant and retain recognition under the existing legal framework.
The group insisted that none of the defendant parties had effectively countered the arguments it presented before the court. On that basis, it urged the judge to grant the reliefs sought, including the order directing the electoral commission to strike the parties off the register of recognised political parties.
Before delivering the judgment, the court had earlier dismissed the multiple preliminary objections that the defendants had filed in a bid to halt the proceedings. With those objections set aside, the judge proceeded to consider the substance of the case and ultimately ordered the deregistration of the affected parties.
The five political parties named in the ruling are the African Democratic Congress, the Accord Party, the Action Alliance, the Action Peoples Party and the Zenith Labour Party. All five were found to have fallen short of the legal threshold, and the court directed that they be removed from the register of recognised political parties.