Appeal Court Extends Stay of ADC, Accord Deregistration, Adjourns Hearing to July 7

 

By Abdulahi Musa 

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has extended its order suspending the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Accord Party and three other political parties, while adjourning further hearing in the matter until July 7, 2026.

The appellate court granted the adjournment to allow all parties involved in the case to file and exchange their briefs of argument before the substantive appeal is heard.

During Thursday's proceedings, counsel to the Accord Party, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), informed the three-member panel led by Justice Abubakar Mohammed that the certified record of appeal and the judgment of the Federal High Court were only received on Monday before being transmitted to the Court of Appeal. He subsequently requested a short adjournment to enable the parties to complete the necessary legal processes.

The request was not opposed by the other parties, prompting the court to fix 2:00 p.m. on July 7 for the next hearing. Although Adetunbi sought just three days for the filing and exchange of briefs, Justice Mohammed explained that members of the panel would be away from Abuja on official assignments next week, making July 7 the earliest convenient date.

The appeal arose from a judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister five political parties—the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Accord Party, Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP). The trial court held that the parties failed to meet the constitutional requirements necessary to retain their registration and participate in future elections.

However, INEC opposed the deregistration, arguing that the affected parties had satisfied constitutional requirements and had produced elected officials in previous elections. To support its position, the electoral body presented certificates of return issued to candidates who won elections on the platforms of the affected parties.

Earlier, on June 16, the Court of Appeal ordered a stay of execution of the Federal High Court's judgment, effectively preventing INEC from implementing the deregistration pending the determination of the appeal. In its unanimous ruling, the appellate court also criticised the lower court for delivering judgment despite an earlier directive to suspend proceedings, describing the action as contrary to the hierarchy of courts.

The suit was instituted by the National Forum of Former Legislators, which argued that the affected political parties failed to meet the electoral performance benchmarks stipulated under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution and relevant provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022. The group maintained that the parties did not achieve the constitutionally required electoral performance in the 2023 general election and subsequent by-elections and should therefore be deregistered.