Court Delays ADC Deregistration Case to July 7

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has pushed back the hearing of an appeal about the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress, Accord Party, and three other political parties to July 7.

The court moved the date from June 25 to give the parties involved time to file and exchange their arguments before the main hearing.

During the proceedings on Thursday, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), who represents the Accord Party, told the three-member panel led by Justice Abubakar Mohammed that the record of appeal and the Federal High Court's judgment were only received on Monday and sent to the appellate court.

Adetunbi then asked for a short delay to allow everyone to file and exchange their documents. Other parties in the case did not oppose this request, so the court set the next hearing for 2 PM on July 7.

Although Adetunbi wanted three days to file and exchange briefs, Justice Mohammed said some panel members would be out of Abuja next week for official reasons. This made July 7 the earliest date that worked for everyone.

The appeal comes from a judgment made by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja. He ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister the African Democratic Congress, Action Peoples Party, Action Alliance, Accord Party, and Zenith Labour Party.

Justice Lifu stated that these parties did not meet the constitutional requirements to keep their registration and take part in future elections.

Meanwhile, INEC disagreed with the deregistration. They argued that the parties met the necessary constitutional standards and had won seats in past elections. INEC showed certificates of return for candidates elected under these parties.

In another development, on June 16, the Court of Appeal ordered a stay of execution of the Federal High Court's judgment. This means INEC cannot enforce the deregistration until the appeal is decided.

The appellate court criticized Justice Lifu for making the judgment despite a previous order telling him to pause proceedings in the case. They called this action a breach of the court hierarchy and approved the application to stay the judgment's enforcement.

The case was brought by the National Forum of Former Legislators. They claimed that the affected parties did not meet the electoral performance standards set in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act, 2022.

The group argued that the parties did not achieve the necessary electoral performance in the 2023 general election and later by-elections, so they should be deregistered.

On the other hand, INEC maintained that the parties are still eligible for registration, pointing to the victories their candidates had in various elections across the country.