Court to Decide Fate of Five Political Parties February 16

 

A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed February 16 for hearing a suit seeking the deregistration of five political parties over alleged failure to meet constitutional and electoral requirements.

The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2025, was instituted by the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL) against the African Democratic Party (ADC), Accord Party, Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Action Alliance (AA), and Action Peoples Party (APP).

The plaintiffs argued that the affected parties failed to secure 25 per cent of votes in any state during the last presidential election, a key constitutional benchmark for continued registration.

They also told the court that none of the parties won any seat in the August 2025 bye-elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), insisting that the outcome fell far below the minimum legal threshold.

The NFFL is urging the court to declare that the parties have violated provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act and should therefore be deregistered.

Under Section 225 of the 1999 Constitution, INEC is empowered to deregister any political party that breaches registration conditions or fails to meet stipulated electoral benchmarks, including the 25 per cent vote requirement in at least one state during a presidential poll.

In February 2020, INEC deregistered 74 political parties for failing to meet similar criteria, a decision later affirmed by the Supreme Court in March 2022.

National Coordinator of the forum, Raphael Igbokwe, said the continued existence of parties that failed constitutional tests “undermines democratic accountability, weakens the party system and erodes the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process.”

He maintained that the legal action was not politically motivated but aimed at sanitising the political space of “inactive, non-performing and constitutionally non-compliant parties.”

According to him, the outcome of the suit will have far-reaching implications for party regulation, democratic consolidation and constitutional governance in the country.