A Federal High Court in Abuja has reaffirmed the powers of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister political
partiesJustice Anwuli Chikere on Thursday held that Section
225(a) of the Constitution gives INEC the powers to deregister parties
that failed to comply with the provisions of the ConstitutionSome 32 political parties had approached the court seeking to set aside the decision of INEC to deregister 74 political parties.The
affected political parties include: the Advanced Congress of Democrats,
Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party, All Blending Party, All Grand
Alliance Party, Better Nigeria Progressive Party, Democratic People’s
Congress, Freedom and Justice Party, and Green Party of Nigeria.
Also,
another judge of the court, Justice Taiwo Taiwo on June 5 ruled that
INEC has the powers to deregister political parties in a suit filed by
Hope Democratic Party (HDP) challenging the powers of INEC to deregister
it as a political party.
The same court had also in a suit filed by the National Unity Party (NUP) one of the 74 parties deregistered by the INEC in February, held that the deregistration of the party was valid in law.