The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has power to deregister underperforming political parties in Nigeria, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.
The court therefore held that the decision of the electoral body to deregister the National Unity Party (NUP) and 73 others over their inability to win any election during the 2019 general elections, was in compliance with the extant provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-man panel of justices on Friday, dismissed as lacking in merit, an appeal by the National Unity Party (NUP), challenging its deregistration by INEC.
NUP, which was among the deregistered parties, challenged the decision in court but lost at the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
The party contended among other things that INEC’s action was arbitrary, unconstitutional and amounted to an infringement of its right as a political association.
Having lost the bid at the lower and appellate courts, the party then headed to the apex court.
However, the apex court dismissed NUP’s appeal and ordered parties in the matter to bear their litigation cost.
The apex court panel in a virtual proceeding led by Justice Mary Odili, said it found no reason to set-aside the concurrent findings of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which had earlier upheld INEC’s decision to deregister some political parties.
Meanwhile, in its lead judgement prepared by Justice Nweze and delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro, the Supreme Court held that the lower courts were right when they held that section 225(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, empowered INEC to deregister any political party that failed to meet the statutory threshold of the registration requirement for political parties.
