Breaking: Supreme Court Affirms INEC’s Power to Deregister 74 Political Parties
- The Supreme Court has rendered its final judgement on the deregistration of 74 political parties in Nigeria
- This is as the apex court upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal that deregistered the parties over their inability to win any election
- The decision was reached by Justice Adamu Jauro of the apex court on Friday, May 7
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Ahead of the general elections, the hopes of some deregistered parties to participate in the 2023 poll have been dashed by the Supreme Court.
This is as the apex court upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal that gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) power to deregister 74 political parties, The Punch reports.
Source: Original
Justice Adamu Jauro in the judgment delivered on Friday, May 7, said the deregistration was in line with the laws and compliance of the Constitution and Electoral Act, The Nation reports.
Back in 2020, INEC deregistered the political parties over their inability to win any election during the 2019 general elections.
According to the electoral umpire, 18 political parties survived the deregistration process.
Legit.ng recalls that a Federal High Court in Abuja had affirmed the power of INEC to deregister political parties which failed to comply with the provisions of the law.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Taiwo O. Taiwo on Thursday, May 28, 2020, the court affirmed the constitutional power of the electoral commission and the reasons given by INEC.
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Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja dismissed the appeal filed by Hope Democratic Party (HDP) challenging the judgment of a Federal High Court which upheld the power of INEC to deregister the party.
Justices Bitrus Sanga, Lokulo Sodipe and Oniyangi in a unanimous decision adopted its judgment in National Unity Party (NUP) with the case put forward by the HDP.
In a related development, INEC has warned that its preparations for the 2023 general election may suffer a huge setback.
The electoral commission gave the warning in response to an attack on one of its offices in Essien Udim local government area, of Akwa Ibom state.
A spokesperson for INEC, Festus Okoye, in a statement via Facebook on Sunday, May 2, stated that the recent attack on its facilities, if unchecked, may affect future polls.
Source: Legit.ng
