The Court of Appeal has declared INEC’s de-registration of some political parties as illegal.
The court’s position was contained in a judgement of the Federal High Court, upholding the Independent National Electoral Commissions’ actions in the de-registration of the political parties.
In a judgment written and signed by the president of the Court of Appeal, with the concurrence of four other appeal court justices, the court held that the de-registration was illegal, having failed to follow due process.
The court also held that INEC’s action wasn’t in compliance of section 225(a)of the 1999 constitution as amended, as they did not indicate the reasons for the de-registration of the political parties.
INEC had said that the de-registered parties breached their requirements for registration, as they failed to win at least twenty-five percent of votes cast in one state of the federation, during the presidential election
While making reference to section 40 of the constitution, the court held that citizens are entitled to freedom of association and as such, the right conferred on a party cannot be taken away except by due process.
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The court further held that the parties are challenging the process of their de-registration and not the act.
The court, therefore, ordered that the appelants should be listed as registered political parties in the country.
The Advance Congress of Democrats and the Progressive Peoples Alliance, were among 74 political parties that INEC de-registered on February 6, 2020.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
