Abuja – The Federal High Court has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.
The affected parties are the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
Justice Peter Lifu delivered the judgment in a suit filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators. The plaintiffs argued that INEC is constitutionally bound to deregister parties that fail to meet the electoral performance thresholds set out in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022, and INEC’s own regulations.
According to the former legislators, the five defendant parties have consistently failed to satisfy the required benchmarks for retaining registration. These include securing at least 25 per cent of votes in a state during a presidential election, or winning a minimum of one elective seat at national, state, or local government level.
The court heard that the ADC and the four other parties performed poorly in both the 2023 general elections and subsequent INEC-conducted by-elections, thereby failing to win any seats across key tiers of government.