Appeal Court adjourns hearing in suit against deregistration of ADC, four others till July 7

The Court of Appeal, Abuja division, on Thursday, adjourned hearing in an appeal challenging the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Accord Party and three other political parties till July 7.

The Appellate Court adjourned the hearing date from June 25, earlier fixed, to July 7 to enable the parties in the appeal to file and exchange their processes filed for a full-scale hearing.

At Thursday’s proceedings, Counsel for the Accord Party, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, informed the three-member panel of Justices of the Court that the record of appeal and final judgement of the Federal High Court were just obtained on Monday and have been transmitted to the Court of Appeal as required by law.

The senior lawyer subsequently applied for a short adjournment to enable him and others in the matter file their briefs of argument and exchange same to pave the way for the hearing of the matter.

The application for adjournment was not opposed by all over parties, prompting the panel, headed by Justice Abubakar Mohammed to adjourn the hearing of the appeal till July 7 by 2 pm.

Although, Adetunbi applied for three days to file and exchange briefs of argument, Justice Mohammed said, some of the Justices would be out of Abuja by next week for special session and announced July 7 as the hearing date in the appeal.

It would be recalled that, Justice Peter Odo Lifu of the Federal High Court had, in a judgment ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC, Accord Party and three other political parties on the ground that they did not fulfill Constitutional requirements in the previous election.

Although, INEC opposed the move on the ground that the parties met required Constitutional requirements and even provided evidence, the Judge nonetheless ordered the electoral body to deregister the ADC, Accord Party, Action Alliance (AA), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), and Action Peoples Party (APP), having failed to secure 25 per cent of the votes in the last general elections in compliance with the provisions of the law.

The Court said the parties failed to meet the constitutional threshold of Section 225 of the 1999 Constitution, which gives INEC the power to deregister parties that failed to meet the constitutional threshold.

In the judgment, Justice Lifu barred INEC from further according recognition to the parties, accepting nomination of candidates from the affected parties or giving effect to their activities for the purpose of participating in the 2027 general elections.

He also ordered the defendants to stop parading themselves as registered political parties in the country and held that there was merit in a suit filed against them by the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL).

In a unanimous ruling of the three-member panel, in the appeal challenging the judgement of the trial court, which was delivered despite Appeal Court order directing the trial Judge to stay proceedings in the matter, pending the outcome of an interlocutory appeal filed in the matter, Justice Abba Mohammed held that, the appellate court has a duty to invoke its power to ensure that its order is obeyed.

He described the action of Justice Lifu as judicial impunity and rascality adding that, “What the trial court did was a violation of judicial precedent and the Constitution.

“Enforcement of the judgement of the trial court delivered on June 15 2026, is hereby stayed pending the hearing and determination of appeal filed by the appellant,” the Court of Appeal held.