The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ordered a stay of execution of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister five political parties.
Ruling on the matter on Tuesday, a three member panel of the appellate court berated Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court for proceeding to hear the matter and issuing the order.
This they said was in spite of an earlier order of the Court of Appeal and the pendency of the case before it.
The Appeal Court said Justice Lifu exhibited judicial rascality by going ahead to hear and make the order.
The appellate court subsequently ordered a stay of execution of the judgment.
Recall that Justice Lifu had, on Monday, ordered the deregistration of five a political parties.
The parties are the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action People’s Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and Accord Party (AP).
In his judgment, the judge held that the parties did not meet the constitutional threshold stipulated under Section 225 of the 1999 Constitution.
Section 225 of the Constitution empowers the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister political parties that fail to meet the constitutional requirements.
The stay of execution order is coming after INEC approached the appellate court, seeking the stay of execution on the order to deregister the parties.