C hances of the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Atiku Abubakar, that of the governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, and the presidential candidate of the Accord Party, Gbenga Olawepo Hashim, contesting in the next presidential and governorship elections appear threatened as a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister their parties.
Atiku and Olawepo-Hashim are contesting the presidential elections on the platform of their respective parties while Adeleke is the governorship candidate of the Accord Party in the August off-cycle elections in Osun State.
The parties listed in the suit and affected by the court’s order apart from ADC include: Accord, Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
Justice Peter Lifu, who made the order in a judgement, held that the affected parties breached Section 225 of the Nigerian constitution.
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Checks showed that the section quoted by the judge, gives INEC the power to deregister political parties that did not win any elective position in the previous round of elections at the federal, state and local government levels.
The judge’s order came a few hours after the ADC announced a former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, as the vice presidential candidate of the party.
Those behind the case
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, was filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators, joined INEC, the Attorney-General of the Federation and some opposition political parties as respondents.
The plaintiffs argued that the parties no longer met the constitutional threshold for continued existence as registered political parties.
They relied on Section 225(a) of the Constitution and provisions of the Electoral Act, insisting the parties failed to win elective seats or meet minimum requirements in elections.
They asked the court to hold that INEC has a constitutional duty to deregister political parties that fail to meet the legal conditions.
The plaintiffs also sought an order compelling INEC to remove the parties from its register and restrain them from participating in future elections.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, joined as a defendant in the suit, threw his weight behind it.
Earlier in May, political parties asked the Federal High Court to suspend proceedings in the same suit seeking their deregistration by the INEC.
They urged the court to stay proceedings pending the outcome of an appeal on the same subject matter before the Court of Appeal.
Specifically, at that May 11 hearing, lawyer to Accord Party, Musibau Adetumbi, argued that the trial court should not continue with the case because related issues had already gone before the Court of Appeal.
Adetumbi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, relied on Supreme Court authorities and argued that a lower court could not proceed on issues pending before a higher court.
The political parties’ lawyers, with S.E. Aruwa representing the ADC, Peter Abang for the Action Alliance, backed the call for the suspension of proceedings.
Their Zenith Labour Party and APP counterparts also supported the request.
The lawyers took turns to argue that allowing the case to continue while an appeal was pending could affect issues already before the appellate court.
APP’s lawyer, Abang, also informed the court that parties had been served with processes filed at the Court of Appeal on 7 May. He added that no response had been filed against the application.
The lawyer also questioned the competence of the suit. He argued that Action Alliance had already challenged the court’s jurisdiction and urged the judge not to take steps that could undermine the appeal proceedings.
Aruwa, ADC’s lawyer, also told the court that the appeal could be determined within a short time.
Opposing the applications, lawyer to the plaintiff, Yakubu Abdullahi Ruba, argued that the appeal was interlocutory and did not prevent the Federal High Court from continuing with the matter.
Ruba argued that no order from either the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court directed the lower court to suspend proceedings.
For his part, INEC’s lawyer, Haliru Mohammed, told the court that the commission had already responded to the substantive suit and would abide by the law.
Lawyer to the Attorney General of the Federation, O.A. Abdulraheem, refrained from taking a stance on the applications.
But at Monday’s proceedings, Justice Lifu, who earlier dismissed all the preliminary objections filed by the defendants, ordered INEC not to allow the parties participate in the subsequent elections, including the 2027 general polls, “having failed to meet the constitutional threshold”.
Efforts by Daily Trust to obtain the reaction of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the judgement were unsuccessful as of press time. Calls and WhatsApp messages sent to the commission’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, and the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Adedayo Oketola, seeking clarification on the commission’s next line of action were not responded to. However, a Deputy Director in the publicity department told our correspondent that he had only just received information about the court judgement and was unable to provide an official comment.
However, further checks showed that Leke Abejide, who defected to the ruling APC recently, won the House of Representatives seat in Yagba Federal Constituency of Kogi State on the platform of ADC in 2023.
It’s an attempt to undermine opposition – Atiku
In a swift reaction, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who is the presidential candidate of the ADC, described the judgement as the “height of judicial rascality.”
Atiku, who commented on the development through one of his media aides, Paul Ibe, in a post on his verified Facebook handle, wondered why the case in the higher court where a stay action order was given would still have the attention of the lower court.
He said, “The so-called deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) along with other parties by Justice Peter Lifu may yet be the biggest manifestation of Tinubu’s hell-bent bid to undermine the opposition and entrench a de facto one-party state. The judgement is the height of judicial rascality.
“The Court of Appeal presided over by Justices Mohammed A. Danjuma, Adebunkunola A. Banjoko, Oyejoju O. Oyewumi had in Appeal CA/ABJ/CV/569/2026 and suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2025 ordered Justice Peter Lifu to stay further action on the matter until the hearing and determination of the Appeal before it.
“The hearing for the appeal was scheduled for the 27th of October 2026. That order was dated 22nd of May 2026.
“Nigerians and the international community can see the level of desperation of the ruling party’s government to either have their way in the 2027 elections or destroy our democracy that was purchased at a huge cost.”
There will be consequences if we are not on the ballot – ADC
The ADC also rejected the judgement, warning that consequences may follow any effort to remove the party from the ballot.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party argued that the “curious judgement is yet the clearest evidence of the desperation of the ruling party and the government to ensure that President Tinubu holds on to power by any means necessary, even if it means subverting democracy and throwing the country into a crisis of immense proportions.”
The party explained that the Constitution grants only INEC the power to register or deregister a political party, saying the judgement has “flagrantly contradicted INEC’s position on affidavit and ignored a subsisting order of stay of proceedings of the Court of Appeal”.
The ADC, therefore, vowed to challenge the ruling through all lawful means, while urging its members to remain calm and await further directives.
Part of the statement said; “We are deeply alarmed by the judgement reportedly delivered by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in a case filed by the so-called National Forum of Former Legislators seeking the deregistration of the ADC and four other political parties. This judgement stands in direct conflict with constitutional principles and all known judicial processes and procedures.
“The facts are straightforward. The plaintiffs had argued that the ADC and four other political parties failed to satisfy constitutional requirements relating to continued registration.
“However, in its counter-affidavit filed before the court in May, INEC, the constitutional body empowered with the registration, regulation, and supervision of political parties in Nigeria, categorically maintained that the ADC had not violated any registration requirements and had not failed any constitutional electoral-performance threshold.”
ADC said, “INEC further made it clear that the deregistration of a political party cannot be driven by political pressure, sentiment, or the wishes of interested parties. It must be based strictly on constitutionally established grounds, none of which had been proven against the ADC.”
The party said, apart from INEC’s position in support of the party, the ADC finds it troubling that the trial judge was aware of a subsisting order of the Court of Appeal issued on May 22, 2026, directing a stay of proceedings on the matter. “The judge, however, chose to flagrantly and contemptuously disregard a clear order of a superior court in a manner that brings into question all known judicial traditions.
“The ADC considers this development not merely a legal dispute, but a dangerous escalation capable of destabilising the nation’s democratic process. Our position is anchored… [truncated]
This news development was originally reported by our media partner DailyTrust News .
