The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s judgement deregistering five opposition political parties ahead of the 2027 general elections and other off-cycle polls coming up within the year.
The five political parties affected by the earlier 15 June judgement of the Federal High Court include the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Accord Party.
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The remaining parties are the Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Abba Mohammed unanimously declared the Federal High Court’s deregistration order null and void on Tuesday.
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The court held that the trial court lacked the judicial power to hear the case in the first place.
It noted that the Federal High Court ignored its order of stay of proceedings by proceeding to deliver judgement in the matter.
According to the Court of Appeal justices, an order of stay of proceedings covers the delivery of a judgement, dismissing the Federal High Court’s justification that the hearing had been concluded as of the time the stay of proceedings order arrived.
The Court of Appeal also held that the first respondent, an association known as the National Forum of Former Legislators (the plaintiff at the trial court), lacked the locus standi, or legal right, to initiate the action.
It held that the court should have dismissed the suit.
“The evidence before the court clearly shows compliance with Section 225 (a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended); that the judgement of the trial judge was perverse,” Daily Trust quoted the Court of Appeal as ruling on Tuesday.
The judgement comes nearly two and a half months after the Court of Appeal granted a reprieve to the affected political parties by staying execution of the judgement in a ruling on 16 June.
As it did on Tuesday, the three-member panel of the appellate court berated Federal High Court Judge Peter Lifu for proceeding to hear the matter and issuing the deregistration order despite a subsisting order of stay of proceedings from a higher court.
The appeal court said then that Mr Lifu exhibited judicial rascality by proceeding to hear and issue the order.
The appellate court subsequently ordered a stay of execution of the judgment.
Background
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Lifu delivered the widely criticised judgement in a suit filed by the little-known National Forum of Former Legislators.
The association filed the suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Attorney-General of the Federation 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 to maintain their registration status under Section 225(a) of the Nigerian constitution.
It argued that the performance of the political parties in the 2023 election cycle fell short of the threshold set by the constitution.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, threw the weight of his office behind the suit. But INEC opposed the suit.
On 15 June, Mr Lifu proceeded to deliver the judgement in favour of the plaintiff 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’ call on him 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 judgement.
He subsequently ordered INEC to deregister the affected political parties.
INEC approached the Court of Appeal the day after the judgement to apply for a stay of execution, which was granted.
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 proceedings 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”.
Confidence booster
Tuesday’s judgement comes as a boost of confidence for 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.
Without a final judicial resolution candidates contesting elections on the platforms of the affected political parties face uncertainty regarding their standings especially if they win.
Speaking to journalists after the Court of Appeal delivered its judgement on Tuesday, Peter Abang, a lawyer to the All Peoples Party (APP), one of the affected political parties, applauded the verdict.
“This judgement is a victory for democracy in Nigeria and that in the administration of justice,” Daily Trust quoted him as saying. “The hierarchy of courts in Nigeria must be respected as they establish an unbroken chain of command and no court has the luxury to sit in judgment against the correctness or otherwise of orders of superior courts.”
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