Supreme Court okays deregistration of political parties

The Supreme Court has affirmed the judgement of the Court of Appeal which okayed the deregistration of the National Unity Party and others.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had last year deregistered the parties over failure to win any election during the 2019 general election.

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In the lead judgement delivered by Justice China Nweze, the apex court said the deregistration of NUP, one of the 74 parties, was done in line with the laws and compliance with the extant provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act.

In the appeal before the apex court, NUP challenged their deregistration by INEC.

The party had earlier gone to the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.

The Abuja Division of the Appeal Court had on July 29, 2020, affirmed the powers of the INEC to deregister political parties.

Delivering the lead judgment of a panel of the Appeal Court, Justice Adamu Jauro held that INEC did not err in law in the deregistration of the NUP, which filed the appeal.

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

Reacting to the judgment, the President of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, Dr Leonard Nzenwa, hailed the judgment and said the judgment had ended all speculations and this will aid INEC to now focus on critical issues in preparation for delivering credible, free and fair 2023 general election.