Supreme Court upholds INEC’s power to deregister parties

INEC deregistered the parties for failing to win any seat in either federal, state or local government levels, during the 2019 general elections.

MARIAM ILEYEMI • May 7, 2021

INEC chariman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu [Photo Credit: Twitter]

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has finally justified the deregistration of 74 political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for their failures to win any election after the 2019 general election.

The apex court in a judgment delivered on Friday noted that the deregistration of the National Unity Party (NUP), one of the 74 parties, was done in line with the laws and compliance within the law and in compliance with extant provisions of the Electoral Act.

The judgment was delivered by a five-man panel of Justices in a virtual proceeding that was led by Justice Mary Odili.

NUP, alongside 73 other political parties were deregistered by INEC on February 6 last year for failing to win any seat in either federal, state or local government levels, during the 2019 general elections.

The apex court also sealed the fate of the remaining 73 parties many of whom have their appeals still pending in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

The NUP had earlier challenged their deregistration by INEC at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal where they lost their bid to be relisted as a political party by both the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court has by affirming the concurrent findings of the lower courts upheld not only the powers of INEC to deregister political parties but also that the process and procedure for the deregistration of the 74 political parties was in compliance with extant laws.

The apex court maintained that the lower courts were right when they held that section 225(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, empowered INEC to deregister any political party that failed to meet the statutory threshold of the registration requirement for political parties.

In a related development, the Council of Nigerian Ethnic Youth Leaders called on the National Assembly to quickly amend the Constitution and the Electoral Act to stop further registration of more political parties saying the 18 remaining parties should be enough to satisfy all political tendencies in the country.

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