Court throws out case for new political party registration

The Federal High Court in Abuja has thrown out a case that wanted to force the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register a political group called Wisdom Party (WP). This happened 88 days before the 2027 presidential election.

Judge James Omotosho said the case had no merit and had become pointless.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the plaintiff, Chinasa Nwekeke, filed the case as the acting national chairman for Wisdom Party, which is trying to get registered as a political party.

Mrs Nwekeke sued INEC as the only defendant in case number FHC/ABJ/CS/746/2026, which she filed on April 14.

Through her lawyer, Mark Agbo, she wanted the court to declare that Wisdom Party should be recognized as a registered political party.

She claimed she submitted a letter of intent on September 22, and INEC did not object to the group's name, symbol, and logo after the 90-day period.

Mrs Nwekeke argued that INEC’s Fund, based on Sections 3 (1) & (2) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which covers all of the commission's expenses, and Section 75(6) of the same act, which allows INEC to set an administrative fee for processing party registration applications, were unreasonable and inconsistent with section 4 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022.

She also said that INEC’s failure to reply to her letter of intent meant it had no objection to the name and symbol of her group.

Additionally, she argued that Section 75 (6) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which requires fees from political associations for registering as parties, does not match Section 4 (1) (f) of the Electoral Act, 2022, and should be canceled by the court.

Mrs Nwekeke further claimed that INEC’s failure to give her group the account details for the administrative fee was a way to block her group’s application.

She asked the court to order INEC to accept her group’s application for registration as a political party.

She also wanted the court to say that her application for registration was valid.

INEC, through its lawyer, Segun Bello, disagreed with Mrs Nwekeke's arguments.

The electoral body stated in its response that the plaintiff's letter of intent did not include a party symbol.

INEC also noted that the general elections are set to begin in January 2027, so granting her request would give less than 12 months to the elections.

The commission added that the letter of intent from the plaintiff’s group did not meet legal requirements as it lacked the symbol of the proposed party, making it invalid.

INEC insisted that without a valid letter of intent, the plaintiff had no right to ask for any relief.

Therefore, INEC requested the court to dismiss the case.

In his ruling, Judge Omotosho pointed out that the law gives INEC the power to charge fees for registration.

He stated, "revenues generated by the defendant can be paid into the Independent National Electoral Commission Fund."

He added, "The administrative fee being debated by the plaintiff is meant for the registration of political parties and being a revenue accruing to the defendant it can rightly be paid into the Fund."

He also explained that just because an agency gets funds from the Federation Account does not mean it cannot charge fees for some activities.

He compared this to the judiciary, which gets money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund but still charges filing and processing fees.

Judge Omotosho concluded that there is no law stopping INEC from setting administrative fees.

In the end, he ruled that the plaintiff's case was without merit and the suit had become pointless.

Thus, the suit is dismissed," the judge declared.