By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has rejected Friday\u2019s ruling of the Federal High Court in Lokoja setting aside the earlier judgment that compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to register it as a political party, declaring that it has not been deregistered<\/p>\n
In a statement issued after the ruling, the party said it was surprised by the court\u2019s decision to set aside its December 2025 judgment following an application by the Peace Movement Party, PMP, an association it described as unregistered and unknown to the NDC.<\/p>\n
The party maintained that after the December 2025 judgment, INEC registered the NDC, enabling it to commence political activities, register members, conduct ward, state and national congresses, hold conventions and conclude primaries for elective offices in line with the electoral timetable.<\/p>\n
According to the NDC, it also fielded candidates in the recent bye-elections in Nasarawa and Enugu states and has nominated candidates for the House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, governorship, presidential and vice-presidential elections.<\/p>\n
The party argued that the Federal High Court had become \u2018functus officio\u2019 after delivering its final judgment in the case against INEC and had already addressed issues relating to the party\u2019s logo and colours.<\/p>\n
It contended that the Peace Movement Party, which claimed ownership of the victory sign adopted by the NDC, was neither a registered political party nor participating in the current registration process.<\/p>\n
The NDC further stated that the court\u2019s latest ruling did not expressly order its deregistration, contrary to reports suggesting otherwise.<\/p>\n
The party said it has instructed its legal team to immediately challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal, questioning both the jurisdiction of the court and the propriety of the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe assure the general public, and particularly our candidates at all levels, that our party is on course. The NDC has not been deregistered, and we are challenging today\u2019s order at the Court of Appeal as soon as possible,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
The party also accused unnamed individuals of attempting to shrink Nigeria\u2019s democratic space and suppress opposition voices ahead of the 2027 general elections.Justice Isah Dashen of the Federal High Court in Lokoja on Friday set aside the court\u2019s earlier judgment directing INEC too register the NDC.<\/p>\n
The judge held that the earlier judgment affected the rights of the Peace Movement Party, which claimed ownership of the logo adopted by the NDC but was not joined as a party in the suit .
\nCounsel to the PMP, C.S. Ekeocha, said the ruling restored all parties to the position they occupied before the December 10, 2025 judgment and reversed all actions taken by INEC pursuant to that judgment, including the recognition and registration of the NDC, pending the final determination of the suit.<\/p>\n
Recall that the Federal High Court in Lokoja had set aside its earlier judgment that ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as a political party. The fresh ruling removes the legal basis for the party’s registration and leaves its status uncertain for now.<\/p>\n
The NDC had earlier secured a court order directing INEC to register it, leading the electoral commission to include the party on its list of recognised political parties. That decision, however, attracted objections from other political associations, which questioned whether the party had met all the legal requirements for registration.<\/p>\n
One of the challengers, the All Democratic Alliance (ADA),had argued that the NDC did not complete the registration process through INEC’s official portal and failed to submit key documents required by law, including its manifesto and other supporting materials. The challenge prompted the court to reopen the case and review its earlier decision.<\/p>\n
In its latest judgment, the court vacated the previous order that compelled INEC to register the NDC. The ruling means the party is no longer recognised as a registered political party and cannot sponsor or field candidates in elections unless it secures fresh recognition from INEC.<\/p>\n
The decision also means INEC is no longer under any legal obligation to keep the NDC on its list of registered political parties. The court agreed that there were legal and procedural issues surrounding the earlier judgment, making it necessary to reverse the order.<\/p>\n
The latest ruling marks a major turn in the legal battle over the NDC’s registration. The party may now choose to appeal the judgment or begin the registration process again by meeting all of INEC’s statutory requirements. Until then, its political activities as a recognised party remain on hold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has rejected Friday\u2019s ruling of the Federal High Court in Lokoja setting aside the earlier judgment that compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to register it as a political party, declaring that it has not been deregistered In a statement issued after the ruling, the party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15020,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15019\/revisions\/15020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}