The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, which had reversed an earlier order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as a political party.
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In a 2-1 majority decision delivered on Friday, September 18, 2026, the three-member appellate panel upheld INEC’s recognition of the NDC, bringing to an end, at the Court of Appeal level, months of uncertainty over the party’s legal status ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The majority judgment was delivered by Justice Mohammed Danjuma and Justice Muslim Sule Hassan, while Justice Okon Abang dissented. The majority held that the Federal High Court acted wrongly when it effectively sat on appeal over its own earlier final judgment of December 10, 2025.
The dispute dates back to December 10, 2025, when Justice Isah Dashen of the Federal High Court in Lokoja ordered INEC to register the NDC as a political party.
However, on June 26, 2026, the same court set aside that judgment following an application by the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which argued that it had a legal interest in the case but had not been joined in the original proceedings. The PMP also asserted an interest in the logo used by the NDC.
Justice Dashen had agreed that the PMP’s interests were affected by the December judgment and held that all necessary parties should have been given an opportunity to be heard. He consequently restored the parties to the positions they occupied before the December 2025 judgment and ordered a fresh hearing with the relevant parties joined.
The NDC challenged that ruling at the Court of Appeal, arguing principally that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to set aside its own final judgment in the circumstances and could not effectively constitute itself into an appellate court over its previous decision.
The Court of Appeal majority agreed.
Justices Danjuma and Hassan held that the lower court had engaged in an improper exercise of judicial power by revisiting its own final judgment, stating in substance that a lower court could not sit on appeal over its own decision. The majority consequently allowed the NDC’s appeal and set aside Justice Dashen’s later ruling.
The majority also rejected the basis on which the PMP had been treated as a necessary party to the original proceedings.
According to the judgment, the PMP was not a registered political party recognised by law and therefore could not, on that basis, qualify as a necessary party in the suit between the NDC and INEC. The appellate court further faulted the Federal High Court for treating the PMP as a party whose rights had been adversely affected by the earlier judgment.
The majority also dismissed the controversy surrounding the NDC’s logo, which the PMP claimed belonged to it, thereby removing another ground upon which the June ruling had rested.
Justice Abang, however, reached a different conclusion in his dissenting judgment.
He held that the NDC’s appeal was incompetent and would have upheld the Federal High Court’s decision. According to him, some of the issues raised by the NDC on appeal were not matters specifically decided by the trial court and therefore could not properly constitute grounds of appeal without the requisite leave.
Justice Abang also raised a limitation issue, holding that the NDC had filed its appeal outside what he considered the applicable 14-day period under the Electoral Act. He stated that the appeal came 53 days after the relevant decision and that statutory deadlines could not be extended.
The dissenting justice additionally criticised the filing of the original case in Lokoja rather than Abuja, describing it as forum shopping. On the substantive dispute, he agreed with the Federal High Court that the PMP had been denied fair hearing and considered it a necessary party because of its claim that it had earlier submitted the disputed “two-finger victory sign” logo to INEC.
Justice Abang would therefore have dismissed the NDC’s appeal and awarded ₦10 million in costs against the party. His position, however, remained the minority view and did not determine the outcome of the appeal.
Reacting to the majority judgment, NDC National Leader Seriake Dickson said the decision meant that the party’s registration remained “valid and subsisting.”
Dickson commended Justices Danjuma and Hassan and said the party viewed the judgment as affirming its right to participate in political activities as a registered political party. He also said the NDC would now turn its attention to its political activities ahead of the 2027 elections.
The judgment effectively reverses the legal position created by the June 26 Federal High Court ruling and leaves intact the recognition of the NDC by INEC, subject to any further appeal that may be pursued against the Court of Appeal’s decision.
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