INEC Wins Again As Court Okays Deregistration Of 32 Political Parties

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday affirmed the deregistration of 32 political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC)

In her judgment, Justice Anwuli Chikere dismissed the suit filed by the parties against the powers of the commission to deregister them.

The court in its judgement held that Section 225(a) of the Constitution gives INEC the powers to deregister parties that failed to comply with the provisions of the constitution.

The judge held that INEC rightly deregistered the 32 parties in line with the provision of Section 225(a) of the Nigerian Constitution.

The political parties were among the 74 that were deregistered by the INEC on February 6, 2020, on the grounds of poor performance at the 2019 general elections.

The parties had filed their suit last year to restrain INEC from carrying out the exercise when they got wind of the commission’s plan

Some of the affected 32 political parties are, Advanced Congress of Democrats, Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party, All Blending Party, All Grand Alliance Party, Better Nigeria Progressive Party, Democratic People’s Congress, Freedom and Justice Party, and Green Party of Nigeria.

The court upheld the Constitutional powers of INEC to deregister political parties.