Court upholds INEC’s power to deregister political parties

A federal high court sitting in Abuja has affirmed the power of the  Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister political parties.

The electoral body had deregistered some of the parties which performed poorly in the 2019 elections.

But some of the affected parties had rejected the action of INEC, challenging it in court.

The Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and Reform and Advancement Party (RAP) had filed another suit to challenge the deregistration.

In a ruling on Wednesday, Nkeonye Maha, a judge, dismissed their suit.

The court said the two parties were in breach of section 225A of the constitution and therefore  affirmed that INEC is not only right but has powers under the constitution to de-register them.

The parties are among 74 non-performing parties de-registered by INEC on 6th February 2020.

On June 5, 2020 and June May 28, 2020, the federal high court presided over by Taiwo Taiwo and another federal high court  by Anwuli Chikere upheld the powers of INEC to de-register political parties.

The two parties, DPP and RAP, were not part of the earlier suits by some of the de-registered parties.