The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday said it has recognized Young Party (YP) as the 19th registered political party in Nigeria.

The commission had included YP among the political parties it deregistered after the 2019 general elections, for failure to meet the requirement of the provision of
Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

But the party went to court and secured an order restraining the commission from deregistering it.

INEC appealed against the judgement, which set aside the judgement of the High Court. The Supreme Court, however, set aside the deregistration of the party.

Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee Festus Okoye, in a statement on Thursday, said the commission interfaced with the YP officials, based on the Supreme Court judgement “on the modalities for its operation based on the Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 and the Regulations and guidelines of the commission.”

Okoye added that “the commission has recognized the Youth Party (YP) as the 19th political party in Nigeria with all the rights and privileges accorded political parties in Nigeria.”

It will be recalled that the YP was registered on August 16, 2018, by virtue of the judgement of the Federal High Court of October 16, 2017.
End