FELIX NWANERI reports 
INEC, deregistered parties take battle to Supreme Court
FELIX NWANERI reports on the recent ruling by the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which nullified the deregistration of some political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over nonperformance
An epic legal battle is in the offing as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) heads to Supreme Court to challenge the recent verdict of the Court of Appeal, which upturned the deregistration of some political parties by the electoral management body.
The appellate court sitting in Abuja had last week ordered the commission to re-list 22 out of the 74 political parties it had earlier deregistered for “failing to meet the criteria provided for by section 225(a) of the 1999 constitution (as amended)”.
Delivering judgement on an appeal by the 22 parties against an earlier judgement of the Federal High Court, which upheld INEC’s action, a panel of the appellate court led by its president, Justice Monica Dongban- Mensem, unanimously overturned the judgement of the lower court. The court held that INEC ignored due process in exercising its powers under section 225(a) of the constitution (as amended). It noted that the parties already filed their suit at the lower court, which was yet to be determined before the deregistration.
Also, the appellate court held that INEC failed to give reasons to the parties on why they could no longer exist.
According to the appellate court, section 40 of the constitution gives citizens the right to the freedom of association, and as such, the right conferred on a political party cannot be taken away except in accordance with the provisions of the law and due process. Justice Dongban-Mensem said the appellants did not challenge INEC’s powers as enshrined on section 225(a) of the constitution but the process by which they were deregistered.
Consequently, the court ordered that the appellants should be listed as political parties. The affected parties are Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), All Blending Party (ABP), All Grand Alliance Party (AGAP), Alliance of Social Democrats (ASD), Change Advocacy Party (CAP), Democratic People’s Congress (DPC), Green Party of Nigeria (GPN), Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN) and Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN).
Others are New Generation Party of Nigeria (NGPA), Nigeria For Democracy (NFD), Peoples Coalition Party (PCP), Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), People for Democratic Change (PDC), Young Democratic Party (YDP), Re-Build Nigeria Party (RBNP), Save Nigeria Congress (SNC), Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), United Democratic Party (UDP), United Patriots (UP) and We
The People of Nigeria (WTPN). Affected parties react Reacting to the judgement of the appellate court, one of the deregistered parties, Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), in a statement by Abiodun Bamigboye and Chinedu Bosah, its Acting National Chairperson and National Secretary, respectively, urged the affected parties to get ready to go the whole hog in challenging the infringement on their democratic right.
The statement read in part: “Given the intensifying crisis of capitalism and the continued loss of legitimacy of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the eyes of longsuffering workers and youth, the capitalist ruling elite will stop at nothing to ensure that a political party that professes socialism is off the ballot.
This is because of their mortal fear that such a party could easily gain the support of the mass of the people given the level of anger that exists in Nigeria as a result of the obvious failure of governments at all levels.
“Therefore, it should not come as a surprise if INEC which is acting the script of the bourgeois ruling elite, embarks on a journey to the Supreme Court, with a view to reverse this judgement. We therefore, enjoin members and supporters to continue to hold the forte and not relent.’ The Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), on its part threatened to file a fresh suit against INEC if it fails to re-enlist deregistered political parties in the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states as ordered by the Court of Appeal.
IPAC Chairman, Peter Ameh, who disclosed this, said: “The next line of action is to return back to court. We have been disenfranchised as political parties. We have candidates that have indicated interest to contest elections and they have been refused entry through this dictatorial tendency and for that reason we would approach the court separately on different suit to adjudicate on the matter.
“Now that we have a superior court of law judgement that clearly stated that INEC acted in error, we should be re-enlisted. So, it is the right of the members of IPAC to participate in the election.”
Chairman, Contact and Mobilisation and member Steering Committee of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Rev Olusegun Peters, who also spoke on the judgement, said the affected political parties will participate in the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.
In a statement, the coalition said that it was obvious that INEC erred by hastily deregistering political parties in flagrant violation of the Constitution and the Electoral Act as amended.
INEC ready for battle at apex court
Reacting to the judgement, INEC, through its National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education and Information, Festus Okoye, said it will challenge the verdict on the ground that the Court of Appeal issued two conflicting judgments. According to Okoye, the same Court of Appeal in another judgement had upheld the commission’s power to deregister parties.
His words: “It is in the interest of the electoral process for both matters to be consolidated. The electoral process will be better served through a final resolution of the issues in the deregistration of political parties. It will also enable the commission to stand on firm grounds rather than pick and choose which between two conflicting decisions it should obey.
“On the July 29, the Court Appeal, Abuja Judicial Division, delivered judgement in the appeal filed by the National Unity Party (NUP) challenging the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister it and other political parties.
“In the originating summons, the National Unity Party sought a declaration that the commission does not have the power under Section 225A of the constitution to deregister the National Unity Party or any other political party for failure to win any of the offices mentioned in section 225A of the constitution or score a certain percent of the votes mentioned therein.”
Judgement of the lower courts Nigeria’s political landscape was quaked in February, when INEC deregistered 74 political parties in what many described then as a tsunami. As expected, the electoral umpire’s action was trailed by mixed feelings.
While some stakeholders and senior lawyers insisted that the electoral commission lacks the power to deregister political parties, most of those affected headed for the courts to upturn their respective deregistration. But ruling on one of the suits, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, held that the power of INEC to deregister political parties is sacrosanct.
The court presided by Justice Anwuli Chikere, 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. No fewer than 32 out of the 74 deregistered political parties had approached the court seeking an order to set aside the decision of INEC, but the court refused their prayer and upheld the constitutional powers of INEC to deregister political parties.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the same court in Abuja had earlier in two separate judgements also upheld the same powers of INEC.
The judge affirmed the deregistration of the National Unity Party and the Hope Democratic Party by the electoral commission. Justice Chikere, in her judgement, held that the parties failed to state sufficient facts to support their claims, while stating that where a provision of the law is unambiguous, it ought to be given its simple interpretation hence Section 225(a) of the Constitution is clear and unambiguous and should be interpreted in support of the deregistration done by INEC.
The judge also vacated the earlier injunction granted to the parties and dismissed their suit in its entirety. The parties had filed a suit last year to restrain INEC from carrying out the exercise, when they learnt about the plans of the commission. The judgement brings the number of political parties, which have their deregistration affirmed by the court to 36.
Long walk to deregistration
The electoral commission has over the years been locked in a running battle with some of the registered political parties over poor performance during elections. The commission, in 2011, for instance, deregistered seven political parties – Democratic Alternative (DA), National Action Council (NAC), National Democratic Liberty Party (NDLP), Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN), Nigeria Peoples Congress (NPC), Nigeria Elements Progressive Party (NEPP) and National Unity Party (NUP).
This brought down the number of registered political parties then from 63 to 56. INEC took the action over failure of any of the parties to win a seat either in the state House of Assembly or National Assembly elections that held that year. The decision was pursuant to Section 78 (7) of the Electoral Act 2010, which specifically confers the electoral commission with powers to deregister any political party that breaches its registration requirement(s) or fails to secure a legislative seat in either the state or federal legislature. T
he section states: “The Commission (INEC) shall have powers to deregister political parties on the following grounds: (i) breach of any of the requirements for registration, and (ii) for failure to win a seat in the National Assembly or State Assembly election.”
But an Onitsha-based human rights lawyer, Jezie Ekejiuba, went to a Federal High Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, to challenge deregisteration of the parties on the ground that INEC’s action was unconstitutional.
The court presided by Justice J. Ojukwu, in its judgement, dismissed the suit for lack of merit, saying that INEC had the power to deregister political parties under the Nigerian constitution. But, dissatisfied with the judgement, Ekejiuba headed to the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, to challenge the verdict.
The appellate court, in a unanimous judgement delivered by Justice Tom Yakubu on behalf of other concurring justices – Rita Pemu and Omodere Bolaji-Yusuf – in 2016, set aside the lower court’s judgement and ordered the restoration to life of all the seven deregistered parties.
Another batch of parties was deregistered in 2012. Among the parties were Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) founded by a former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa; Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) and Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP). Like the deregistration exercise of 2011, the sack was also as a result of the fall out of the 2011 general election in which more than 95 per cent of the 63 registered political parties then put up poor showing.
The affected parties, however, challenged INEC’s action in court and Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who ruled on the matter in 2015, held that the parties were deregistered without being given fair hearing. The judge also declared as unconstitutional, invalid, null and void, the provisions of section 78(7)(ii) of the Electoral Act 2010, which INEC relied on to deregister the parties.
According to him, the section was inconsistent with provisions of sections 1(3), 40 and 221 to 229 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantee the rights on Nigerian citizens to freely join lawful assembly, trade unions and to belong to any political party of their choice.
Fringe parties and poor performance It would be recalled that in the 2011 national and state Assembly elections, only 10 political parties were able to win at least one seat in the Senate, House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly.
The parties were Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Accord Party (AP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Labour Party (LP), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Kowa Party and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA).
In the presidential poll, only 20 of the 63 parties participated, as many of them either endorsed the candidacy of then President Goodluck Jonathan of PDP, General Muhammadu Buhari of CPC or ANPP’s Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau. The same scenario also played out in virtually all the states of the federation during the governorship election.
It is also worthy to point out that nine of the parties did not field candidates for the elections, which justified claims by many that some of the parties were merely set up by individuals to collect annual subventions being given to them by INEC as they exist only in the briefcases of their owners and do not go beyond family members or group of friends.
Filling the missing gap Whereas the various court judgements, which nullified previous deregistration of parties by INEC were based on lack of constitutional power as the Electoral Act, which the commission relied on to take such actions, is inferior to the constitution, section 225A of the Fourth Alteration of the 1999 Constitution, filled the gap.
This section of the constitution empowers INEC to deregister parties on the following grounds – breach of any of the requirements for registration as a political party; failure to win at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in one state of the federation in a presidential election or 25 per cent of the votes cast in one local government area of a state in a governorship election; and failure to win at least one ward in a chairmanship election, one seat in the National or State Assembly election or one seat in a councillorship election.
74 parties axed It was based on section 225A of the Fourth Alteration of the 1999 Constitution, that INEC wielded the big stick on 74 out of the country’s 92 registered political parties in February. Among the affected parties were Advanced Allied Party (AAP), All Blending Party (ABP), Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Alliance for Democracy (AD), All Grassroots Alliance (AGA), All Grand Alliance Party (AGAP), Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Alliance National Party (ANP), Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP), African People Alliance (APA), Advanced People’s Democratic Alliance (APDA), Alternative Party of Nigeria (APN), Alliance of Social Democrats (ASD), Alliance for United Nigeria (AUN) and Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP).
The list further had Change Advocacy Party (CAP), Coalition for Change (CC), Change Nigeria Party (CNP), Congress of Patriots (CP) Democratic Alternative (DA), Democratic People’s Congress (DPC), Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Fresh Democratic Party (FDP), Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), Grassroots Development Party of Nigeria (GDPN), Green Party of Nigeria (GPN), Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Independent Democrats (ID), Justice Must Prevail Party (JMPP), Kowa Party (KP), Liberation Movement (LM) and Legacy Party of Nigeria (LPN).
Also on the list were Mass Action Joint Alliance (MAJA), Modern Democratic Party (MDP), Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN), Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN), Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), National Action Council (NAC), Nigeria Community Movement Party (NCMP), National Conscience Party (NCP), Nigeria Democratic Congress Party (NDCP), National Democratic Liberty Party (NDLP), Nigeria Elements Progressive Party (NEPP), Nigeria For Democracy (NFD), New Generation Party of Nigeria (NGP), National Interest Party (NIP) and Nigeria People’s Congress (NPC).
The rest were New Progressive Movement (NPM), National Unity Party (NUP), People’s Coalition Party (PCP), People for Democratic Change (PDC), People’s Democratic Movement (PDC), Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Providence Peoples Congress (PPC), Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), People’s Trust (PT), Reform and Advancement Party (RAP), Re- Build Nigeria Party (RBNP), Restoration Party of Nigeria (RPN), Save Nigeria Congress (SNC), Sustainable National Party (SNP), Socialist Party of Nigeria, United Democratic Party (UDP), United Patriots (UP), United Peoples Congress (UPC), Unity Party Of Nigeria (UPN), United Progressive Party (UPP), We the People Nigeria (WPN), Young Democratic Party (YDP), Electorate Solidarity (YES) and Youth Party (YP). Interestingly, AD was one of the three political parties registered by the military in 1998. Before its fortune dwindled in 2003, the party was in control of six states in the South-West and had elected members at both the state and National Assemblies.
A faction of it, however, joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the four political parties that merged in 2013 to become the All Progressives Congress (APC). INEC justifies action Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who explained how the commission arrived at the decision to deregister the parties, said it was based on their respective performance in the 2019 general election, court-ordered polls and Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
His words: “In order to implement the provision of the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution, the commission carried out an assessment of political parties to determine compliance with the requirements for their registration. “Similarly, following the conclusion of the 2019 general election, including court-ordered re-run elections arising from litigations, the commission was able to determine the performance of political parties in the elections.
“In addition, they were also assessed on the basis of their performance in the Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which coincided with the 2019 general election. It should be noted that the FCT is the only part of the country, where INEC is empowered by the constitution to conduct local government elections.”
According to the INEC chairman, only 18 parties fulfilled the requirements for existence based on Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). They are Accord Party (A), Action Alliance (AA) African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), African Democratic Party (ADP), All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
Others are Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressive Party (YPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP). Results of the 2019 elections showed that political parties, which secured elective seats after the polls are APC, PDP, APGA, ADC, PRP, AA, SDP, YPP and LP.
Although Yakubu noted that 75 political parties did not satisfy the requirements of the Fourth Alteration to the constitution, he said one of them – Action Peoples Party (APP) – filed a suit in court and obtained an order restraining the commission from deregistering it.
This, according to him, means that the party remains registered pending the determination of the case by the court. “The new political party, Boot Party (BP), registered by court order after the 2019 general election will also continue to exist.
Accordingly, 74 political parties are hereby deregistered. With this development, Nigeria now has 18 registered political parties,” he declared. Arguments for and against deregistration While some political stakeholders hailed the electoral umpire’s action, others reasoned that it was part of the plot to suppress opposition and limit the political space.
Those who supported the move maintained that the number of political parties should further be reduced because the large number makes it possible for all manner of people to contest elections.
Others, who described INEC’s decision as a welcome development, opined that deregistration of non-performing parties will minimize wastage of materials as well as make it easy for the electorate to vote for parties of their choice during elections.
This, they justified with the number of voided votes during the last general election.
On the other hand, those who reasoned that the action was taken to restrict the country’s political space and shut out popular participation, maintained that a general election, which its outcome was skewed in favour of some political parties, cannot be a basis to judge the popularity or otherwise of other parties and as a result should not be used as a yardstick to determine which party stays and which goes out of the political scene.
