Appeal Court affirms INEC’s power to deregister parties

The Abuja Division of the Appeal Court on Wednesday affirmed the powers of the National Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister political parties.

Delivering the lead judgment of a panel of the court, Justice Mohammed  Idris, held that INEC did not err in law in the deregistration of the National Unity Party, which filed the appeal.

The court upheld the judgment of Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja which had earlier in May cancelled the deregistration of NUP and 73 other political parties for being in breach of section 225(a)of the Nigeria Constitution.

The said constitutional provision spells out the minimum election victory a party must record or percentage of votes it must poll to sustain its status as a registered political party.

INEC, in deregistering the affected 74 political parties in February stated that they failed to meet the minimum requirement.

After Justice Taiwo’s judgment on NUP in May, other judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja, have upheld the deregistration of almost 40 other affected parties.