Court of Appeal Restores Registration for ADC, Accord and Three Other Parties

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s ruling that deregistered five opposition political parties ahead of the 2027 general elections and other upcoming polls this year.

The five parties affected by the earlier judgement from the Federal High Court on June 15 are the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Accord Party.

The other parties are the Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Abba Mohammed, unanimously declared the Federal High Court’s order as null and void on Tuesday.

The court said the lower court did not have the power to hear the case in the first place.

It pointed out that the Federal High Court ignored its order to stay proceedings by going ahead to deliver judgement in the matter.

According to the justices at the Court of Appeal, an order for stay of proceedings includes stopping the delivery of a judgement. They dismissed the Federal High Court’s claim that the hearing had been completed before the stay order was issued.

The Court of Appeal also ruled that the first respondent, known as the National Forum of Former Legislators, did not have the legal right to start the case.

The court said the suit should have been dismissed.

“The evidence before the court clearly shows compliance with Section 225 (a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended); that the judgement of the trial judge was perverse,” Daily Trust quoted the Court of Appeal as ruling on Tuesday.

This ruling comes about two and a half months after the Court of Appeal gave a temporary relief to the affected political parties by staying the execution of the judgement on June 16.

As it did on Tuesday, the three-member panel of the appellate court criticized Federal High Court Judge Peter Lifu for proceeding to hear the case and issuing the deregistration order despite an existing order to stay proceedings from a higher court.

The appeal court said then that Mr Lifu showed poor judgement by going ahead with the case and issuing the order.

The appellate court later ordered a stay of execution of the judgement.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Lifu gave the widely criticized ruling in a case brought by the little-known National Forum of Former Legislators.

This group filed the case against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the affected political parties.

They asked the court to force INEC to remove the parties from its register for allegedly not meeting the constitutional requirements to keep their registration status under Section 225(a) of the Nigerian constitution.

They argued that the performance of the political parties in the 2023 election cycle did not meet the constitutional threshold.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, supported the suit. But INEC opposed it.

On June 15, Mr Lifu went ahead and gave the judgement in favor of the plaintiff despite lawyers for some of the affected parties informing him about a pending appeal.

Ignoring the lawyers’ request to stop the proceedings, Mr Lifu continued and delivered the judgement, saying no valid stay order had been served on the court and that the matter was ready for judgement.

He then ordered INEC to deregister the affected political parties.

INEC went to the Court of Appeal the next day to request a stay of execution, which was granted.

Granting INEC’s request, the Court of Appeal judges criticized Mr Lifu’s actions as a violation of their supervisory role over lower courts.

They recalled their earlier order to stay proceedings at the trial court until the appeal was resolved and expressed surprise that Mr Lifu ignored it.

They held that despite the clear order stopping proceedings, the trial court still delivered judgement. The court called this a disregard for judicial authority.

The panel further stated that Mr Lifu’s actions amounted to poor judgement.

Tuesday’s ruling boosts the confidence of ADC’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, who is seeking re-election on the Accord platform in the August 15 governorship election in the state.

Without a final judicial decision, candidates running on the platforms of the affected political parties face uncertainty about their status, especially if they win.

After the Court of Appeal delivered its ruling on Tuesday, Peter Abang, a lawyer for the All Peoples Party (APP), praised the verdict.

“This judgement is a victory for democracy in Nigeria and for the administration of justice,” Daily Trust quoted him as saying. “The hierarchy of courts in Nigeria must be respected as they create an unbroken chain of command, and no court can judge the correctness of orders from superior courts.”