The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has told the Court of Appeal it will not oppose an application to stay the execution of a Federal High Court judgment that deregistered five political parties.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court had on Monday ordered the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for allegedly failing to meet conditions for retention.
Appearing before a three‑member panel of the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, INEC counsel Haliru Mohammed said the commission was surprised by the ruling and only learned of it through media reports, despite an earlier Court of Appeal order of May 22 that had stayed proceedings in the matter.
“My Lords, we are aware of an order that this court made on May 22, which stopped the delivery of the judgement of the lower court, which was initially reserved for delivery on June 5,” Mohammed told the court. “We were not aware of any notice from the court regarding the delivery of the judgement. We only saw it as breaking news in the media. We therefore do not oppose the application of the appellant to stay the execution of the judgement.”
Counsel for the ADC, Shuaibu Aruwa, told the panel that his client was informed of the judgment via WhatsApp and accused the trial judge of defying the appellate court’s stay. “What the trial judge did was dare this court of appeal by insisting that no one could arrest his judgement, even after his attention was drawn to the stay order from this court,” Aruwa said, urging the Appeal Court to suspend the judgement to protect its own orders.
The Appeal Court is hearing an interlocutory appeal brought by Accord challenging a April 27 decision of the Federal High Court refusing a joinder application in a deregistration suit instituted by the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators.
The five parties have expressed concern that the high‑court order could jeopardise their participation in forthcoming elections. The Appeal Court’s determination on the stay will decide whether the deregistration takes effect while the substantive appeals proceed.
