Appeal Court Reserves Judgment on ADC, Four Parties’ Deregistration Appeals

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved judgment in the appeals challenging the Federal High Court’s decision directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.

A three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Abba Mohammed, reserved judgment after lawyers representing all parties adopted their written briefs and presented their final arguments.

The appeals were filed by the ADC, Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), as well as INEC, all seeking to overturn the Federal High Court judgment ordering the parties’ deregistration.

The controversy arose from a judgment delivered by the Federal High Court, which held that the affected political parties failed to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and directed INEC to remove them from its register of political parties.

The lower court also restrained INEC from recognising the parties or accepting candidates nominated by them for future elections.

However, the affected parties challenged the decision, arguing that the trial court lacked the jurisdiction to issue the order and that the judgment was delivered despite an earlier directive from the Court of Appeal staying proceedings in the matter.

Earlier, the appellate court had granted a stay of execution of the deregistration order, allowing the five political parties to remain registered pending the determination of their appeals.

Following the conclusion of arguments by all parties, Justice Mohammed announced that judgment had been reserved and that a date for its delivery would be communicated to the parties.

The outcome of the appeal is expected to determine the legal status of the ADC, APP, AA, Accord Party and ZLP ahead of preparations for the 2027 general elections.