The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister five political parties for failing to satisfy the constitutional performance threshold under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), holding that the affected parties are no longer eligible to participate in the 2027 general election.
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Delivering judgment in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, The Incorporated Trustees of National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL) v. INEC & 6 Others, on 15 June 2026, Honourable Justice Peter O. Lifu resolved all five questions submitted by the Plaintiff in the affirmative and held that the Plaintiff’s case succeeded in part.
The affected parties are the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP), Accord, and the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), joined as the 3rd to 7th Defendants respectively. INEC was the 1st Defendant and the Attorney General of the Federation the 2nd Defendant.
The Constitutional Threshold Under Section 225A
The court anchored its decision on Section 225A of the Constitution, which empowers INEC to deregister a political party for breach of registration requirements or for failure to win at least twenty five per cent of votes cast in one State of the Federation in a Presidential election, or one Local Government Area in a Governorship election, or to win at least one ward in a Chairmanship election, one seat in the National or State House of Assembly, or one seat in a Councillorship election.
Justice Lifu held that the words of Section 225A are plain and should be given their literal meaning, stressing that proliferation of political parties without a purposeful design to promote democratic ideals should be discouraged. He noted that any tendency to pollute the political environment by making merchandise of ignorant members and the electorate must be frowned upon by the court.
Defections Cannot Insulate a Party From Deregistration
A central plank of the ruling was the treatment of seats won and later lost to defection. The court found, on the documentary evidence, that the ADC won two House of Representatives seats in Kogi State in the 2023 general elections, that Action Alliance won a Local Government Council election in Rivers State, that Accord won councillorship elections in Jigawa State, and that the Zenith Labour Party won chairmanship and councillorship elections in Abia State.
However, Justice Lifu held that those victories had been cut short by the defection of the elected office holders. He reasoned that Section 225A contemplates those who won and remain, not those who carried their mandate to another political party, concluding that the affected parties, as they now stand, won nothing and had therefore failed.
The court further held that none of the parties secured twenty five per cent of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory or in any of the 36 States of the Federation, a distinguishing element which in the court’s view rendered them liable to deregistration.
Disjunctive Interpretation, but Courts Cannot Rewrite the Constitution
While the parties agreed that Section 225A is to be construed disjunctively, the court held that the real dispute lay in the legal consequences flowing from that interpretation. Citing Awuse v. Odili, Justice Lifu held that where a statute is clear and unambiguous, the court must stop where the statute stops and has no jurisdiction to rewrite a statute to suit the purpose of any party. He relied on NUP v. INEC and the Supreme Court’s position in INEC v. Youth Party to affirm INEC’s power, while noting that the power is not absolute and remains subject to judicial supervision to ensure fairness.
Evidence, Affidavit and Process Objections Dismissed
The court resolved several preliminary objections against the Defendants. On the challenge that the Originating Summons was issued in the name of a law firm contrary to Okafor v. Nweke, Justice Lifu held that the process was in fact signed by Gbenga Makanjuola Esq., a legal practitioner whose name is on the roll, so the mischief in Okafor v. Nweke did not arise.
On objections that certain affidavit paragraphs offended Section 115(2) of the Evidence Act, 2011, the court discountenanced them, holding that the parties merely listed the offending paragraphs without demonstrating how they amounted to legal arguments or conclusions, relying on Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc v. LGC Ltd.
No Stay, and a Judgment Cannot Be Arrested
Addressing the argument that the Court of Appeal had stayed the judgment, Justice Lifu held that no specific or extant order of any appellate court staying the judgment had been served on or shown to the court, and that only a pending interlocutory appeal existed. Relying on Shettima v. Goni and Bob Manuel v. Briggs, he held that a judgment of court cannot be arrested by a litigant under any guise. He also cited a National Judicial Council circular of 16 June 2025 directing that matters at an advanced stage or adjourned for judgment should not be transferred, and accordingly dismissed all the preliminary objections of the 1st and 3rd to 7th Defendants.
The court declared that the 3rd to 7th Defendants, having failed to secure the twenty five per cent constitutional threshold and to satisfy all constitutional pre-conditions, should be deregistered by INEC from the list of registered political parties, and are not eligible to participate in the 2027 general election or any other date set by INEC.
INEC was directed to set the necessary machinery in motion for the deregistration of the affected parties and to decline any correspondence from them forthwith. The Commission was further ordered to employ its constitutional and legal powers to deregister any political party that has not met the constitutional minimum threshold, with a view to sanitising the political space. The court made no order as to cost.
The judgment, if it survives appeal, places a direct judicial mandate on INEC to deregister five registered parties and to bar them from the 2027 race. Its most consequential legal point is the holding that seats won at the polls but subsequently lost to defection do not preserve a party’s status under Section 225A, narrowing the basis on which smaller parties can claim to have met the threshold.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal has since granted a stay of execution, suspending enforcement of the deregistration judgment pending further appellate proceedings.
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