The Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld the de-registration of 22 political parties.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had deregistered the parties in 2020.
File Photo
The parties lost their legal battle on the de-registration at the Federal High Court in a judgment delivered by Justice Taiwo Oladipupo Taiwo who held that the electoral body had the power to disqualify them.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja, however, upturned the High Court verdict on the ground that INEC did not follow due process of law.
But the Supreme Court has upheld their deregistration.
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, ACD; Change Advocacy Party, CAP; Democratic Peoples Congress, DPC; and Green Party of Nigeria, GPN.
Others include Masse Movement of Nigeria, MMN; Mega Party of Nigeria, MPN; New Generation Party of Nigeria, NGP; Nigeria For Democracy, NFD; Peoples Coalition Party, PCP; Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA; People For Democratic Change, PDC, and Young Democratic Party, YDP.
Also included are the 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 Nigeria, WTPN.
However, Justice Ejembi Eko, who delivered a landmark judgment in the matter on Friday, voided and set aside a judgment of the Court of Appeal which had nullified the de-registration.
Justice Eko held that the Court of Appeal on its own (suo motu) raised the issue of lack of fair hearing in favour of the scrapped parties and arrived at a conclusion without hearing from other parties in the matter.
“This appeal by INEC is meritorious and is hereby allowed. The decision of the court below is set aside,” it ruled.
Elections Legal Politics News AddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :from Politics https://ift.tt/TrjFRmH
via IFTTT
we need your feedback