The Supreme Court has affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal which upheld the deregistration of the National Unity Party and 73 other political parties in Nigeria.
In the judgment, delivered by Justice China Nweze via zoom the apex court said the deregistration of NUP as one of the 74 political parties, was done in line with the laws and compliance with the extant provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act.
He said there is a constitutional provision that spells out the minimum election victory a party must record or percentage of votes it must poll to sustain its status as a registered political party in Nigeria.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court had in May cancelled the deregistration of NUP and 73 other political parties for being in breach of section 225 (a) of the Nigerian Constitution.
After Justice Taiwo’s judgment on NUP in May, other judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja in similar matters also upheld the deregistration of almost 40 other affected political parties.
Not satisfied, the party proceeded to the Court of Appeal and to the Supreme Court to challenge their deregistration by INEC. The Supreme Court has with this judgment laid all the issues to rest by upholding the decision of the lower courts.
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INEC had last year deregistered the parties over their failure to meet the minimum requirements.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
