The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to suspend the execution of a Federal High Court judgment that directed the deregistration of five political parties, including the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The affected parties are ADC, Accord, Action Alliance, Action Peoples Party, and Zenith Labour Party.
In its ruling, the appellate court strongly criticized the decision of Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, describing his action in proceeding with the matter despite an existing appeal and previous orders of the Court of Appeal as inappropriate.
Consequently, the Court of Appeal granted a stay of execution of the judgment pending the determination of the appeal.
Justice Lifu had earlier ruled that the five political parties failed to secure the constitutional electoral threshold of 25 per cent of votes in the last general elections and therefore should be deregistered. He also directed INEC not to allow the parties to participate in future elections, including the 2027 general elections.
The suit was instituted by the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators, which named INEC and the Attorney-General of the Federation as defendants. The group argued that the affected political parties failed to meet constitutional requirements relating to electoral performance and national spread.
The development is particularly significant for the ADC, where rival factions are backing different presidential hopefuls for the 2027 election, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Dumebi Kachiku.
With the Court of Appeal’s intervention, the status of the five political parties remains unchanged pending the final determination of the case.
