The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday ordered a stay of execution of the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.
In a unanimous ruling, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal rebuked Federal High Court Judge Peter Lifu for delivering judgement in the case, violating its earlier superior order halting proceedings.
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Judge A. Muhammed who delivered the lead ruling described Mr Lifu’s conduct in deregistering the five opposition parties in disregard for the Court of Appeal’s order of stay as “judicial impertinence.”
Court of Appeal’s intervention arrived barely 24 hours after Mr Lifu delivered the controversial judgement on Monday ordering INEC to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Accord, Action Alliance, Action Peoples Party and Zenith Labour Party—some of which have established themselves as formidable rivals to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in upcoming national and off-cycle governorship elections.
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The ruling offered a lifeline to ADC’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke who is seeking re-election on the Accord platform in the 15 August off-cycle governorship election in the state.
The Court of Appeal’s intervention saved their tickets from the judgement that could have automatically disqualified them months before the elections.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Lifu delivered the judgement in a suit filed by the little-known National Forum of Former Legislators against INEC and the affected political parties.
The group asked the court to compel INEC to remove the parties from its register for allegedly failing to meet constitutional requirements for to maintain their registration status under Section 225(a) of the Nigerian constitution.
Mr Lifu proceeded to deliver judgement in favour of the plaintiff on Monday despite lawyers to some of the affected political parties informing him of a pending appeal on the matter before the Court of Appeal.
Waving off the lawyers’ submission to halt proceedings, Mr Lifu went on to deliver scheduled judgement, holding that no valid stay order had been served on the court and that the matter was ripe for determination.
He subsequently ordered INEC to deregister the affected political parties.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, who was sued as co-defendants, stoutly backed the suit.
However, INEC, which earlier opposed the suit as a co-defendant at the trial court, approached the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, calling for a stay of execution of the judgement.
‘Judicial rascality’
Granting INEC’s request, the Court of Appeal judges described Mr Lifu’s conduct as a breach of Court of Appeal’s supervisory jurisdiction over lower courts.
It recalled its earlier order for stay of proceeding at the trial court pending the determination of the appeal, and expressed surprise that Mr Lifu ignored it.
It held that despite the clear order halting proceedings, the trial court proceeded to deliver judgement. The court described the action as a “brazen disregard for judicial authority”.
The panel further held that Mr Lifu’s conduct amounted to “judicial rascality”.
Hearing at court of Appeal
During the Court of Appeal proceedings in Abuja on Tuesday, INEC asked the court to stay execution of the judgement of the Federal High Court that ordered the deregistration of ADC and four other political parties.
The commission aligned itself with the notice of appeal filed by the political parties challenging the same judgement.
INEC’s lawyer, Haliru Mohammed, told the appellate court that the commission was shocked by the decision of the trial court and only became aware of the judgment through media reports.
He told the court that the Court of Appeal had earlier made an order on 22 May stopping the Federal High Court from delivering judgment pending the determination of an appeal.
“We were not aware of any notice from the court regarding the delivery of the judgement. We only saw it as breaking news in the media,” Mr Mohammed said. “We therefore do not oppose the application of the appellant to stay the execution of the judgment.”
Lawyer to ADC, Shuaibu Aruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), also told the Court of Appeal that the Federal High Court proceeded to deliver judgement despite the subsisting order of the appellate court.
He described the development as a breach of judicial order and urged the court to intervene.
He maintained that “what the trial judge did was dare this Court of Appeal by insisting that no one could arrest his judgment.”
He urged the court to take what he described as urgent and decisive steps to protect its authority.
Other lawyers to the other parties in the matter also told the appellate court that enforcement of the judgement could disrupt preparations for upcoming by-elections in some states.
They urged the court to suspend execution of the judgement to avoid electoral and administrative confusion.
Granting the applications filed in the matter, the Court of Appeal invoked its supervisory powers and suspended execution of the judgment, pending the determination of the appeal.
The Court of Appeal said it would continue hearing the substantive appeal in the matter on 25 June.
READ ALSO: Group petitions NJC, CJN over ADC deregistration judgement, seeks sanction against judge
Criticisms
The judgement, which put hopes of affected political parties for electoral victory in upcoming off-cycle election and next year’s general elections on the line, has drawn criticisms since Monday.
Affected political parties described the judgement as an attempt to weaken opposition parties ahead of forthcoming elections.
The National Publicity Secretary of ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party had activated its legal team to challenge the decision through all available legal channels.
“The ADC will vigorously challenge this judgment through every lawful and constitutional avenue available to us. We shall mobilise all democratic stakeholders,” Mr Abdullahi said in a statement.
For the Accord, the judgement came at a critical period of political activities in Osun State ahead of the 15 August off-cycle governorship election.
Speaking during a press briefing on Monday, Governor Ademola Adeleke, the party’s governorship candidate, argued that the matter was already before the Court of Appeal, which had adjourned proceedings until October.
Mr Adeleke described the Federal High Court ruling as an abuse of court process, maintaining that a lower court ought not to proceed with a matter already under consideration by a higher court.
“Our lawyers have taken necessary steps to right the wrong. It is on record that the Court of Appeal had stayed proceedings on the matter till October. We are therefore surprised that the lower court proceeded to act on a matter already acted upon by the higher court,” the governor said.
Also on Monday, a civil society organisation, Tap Initiative for Citizens’ Development, petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, and the National Judicial Council (NJC), which she chairs, seeking an investigation into Mr Lifu’s conduct and a sanction against him should a wrongdoing be established against him.
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