The Court of Appeal in Abuja has adjourned until July 7 the hearing of an appeal challenging the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Accord Party, Action Alliance, Action Peoples Party, and the Zenith Labour Party.
The matter was adjourned from June 25 to allow parties to file and exchange their briefs of argument ahead of the substantive hearing.
At Thursday’s proceedings, counsel for the Accord Party, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), told the three-member panel led by Justice Abubakar Mohammed that the record of appeal and the Federal High Court judgment had only been obtained on Monday and transmitted to the appellate court.
The senior advocate therefore requested a short adjournment to enable all parties to file and exchange processes. The application was not opposed by other counsel, and the court subsequently fixed 2 p.m. on July 7 for hearing.
Although Adetunbi requested three days for the exchange of briefs, Justice Mohammed said some members of the panel would be unavailable next week due to official engagements, making July 7 the earliest convenient date.
The appeal stems from a judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the affected political parties for allegedly failing to meet constitutional requirements for continued registration.
Justice Lifu held that the parties did not satisfy the constitutional threshold required to retain their registration and participate in future elections.
However, INEC opposed the deregistration, arguing that the affected parties had met the required conditions and had produced candidates who won elective positions in previous elections. The commission tendered certificates of return issued to such candidates in support of its position.
In a related development, the Court of Appeal on June 16 granted a stay of execution of the Federal High Court judgment, restraining INEC from enforcing the deregistration pending determination of the appeal.
In a unanimous ruling, the appellate court faulted the lower court for proceeding with the judgment despite an earlier directive to suspend proceedings, describing it as a breach of judicial hierarchy.
The suit was filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators, which argued that the affected parties failed to meet the electoral performance requirements under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution and relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
The group maintained that the parties failed to secure the required electoral thresholds in the 2023 general elections and subsequent by-elections, and therefore should be deregistered.
INEC, however, maintained that the parties remained validly registered, citing electoral victories recorded by their candidates across the country.
