Another High Court Rules APP Validly Registered, Fit For 2027 Polls

Slams ₦20m fine on plaintiff

A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri, Imo State, has dismissed a suit challenging the legal status of the Action People’s Party (APP), ruling that the political party was never deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and remained a duly recognised political party under Nigerian law.

In a judgement that could have significant implications for the country’s electoral landscape, Justice I.N. Oweibo rejected all reliefs sought by the plaintiff, who had asked the court to compel INEC to remove APP from its register of political parties on the grounds that it was allegedly deregistered during the commission’s 2020 exercise that affected 74 political parties.

The plaintiff had argued that APP’s participation in electoral activities, including the 2024 Rivers State Local Government Elections and local council polls in Jigawa State, was unlawful because the party had purportedly ceased to exist following the February 6, 2020 deregistration exercise.

To support the claim, the plaintiff relied on media reports and a Supreme Court judgement affirming INEC’s powers to deregister political parties that failed to meet constitutional requirements.

However, the court found that the plaintiff failed to establish that APP was ever lawfully deregistered.

Delivering judgement, the court held that evidence before it showed that APP had, on the very day the deregistration exercise was announced, approached the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, and obtained an order restraining INEC from taking any action affecting its status pending the determination of its judicial review proceedings.

The court noted that the enrolled order, tendered by APP, directed that the leave granted for judicial review should operate as a stay of all actions connected with the subject matter of the suit.

According to the court, the plaintiff failed to controvert the authenticity of the order or prove that it was invalid.

“I find on the evidence that the 3rd Defendant instituted an action against the 1st Defendant and obtained an order stopping the 1st Defendant from taking any action in respect of deregistering the 3rd Defendant,” the judge held.

The court further rejected the plaintiff’s argument that an interim order could not remain effective for nearly six years, explaining that the order in question was not an ordinary interim injunction but a stay granted in judicial review proceedings.

Citing Order 44 Rule 3(6) of the FCT High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, the judge held that such a stay remains in force until the determination of the substantive application or until the court orders otherwise.

The court also agreed with INEC and APP that the Supreme Court decision relied upon by the plaintiff did not specifically address APP’s status, as the party was not a litigant in the proceedings that culminated in the apex court’s judgement at the time.

INEC maintained throughout the proceedings that APP remained a registered political party and denied allegations of fraud or collusion in retaining the party on its register.

The electoral body argued that the media reports cited by the plaintiff did not constitute official evidence of deregistration and insisted that its actions had always been guided by subsisting court orders and judicial pronouncements.

APP, in its defence, insisted that it was never among the parties lawfully deregistered by INEC and tendered court judgments supporting its position.

The party also denied allegations that its continued participation in elections was fraudulent, maintaining that all its electoral activities were conducted within the framework of the law.

In its final determination, the court resolved all five issues submitted for adjudication against the plaintiff and dismissed the suit in its entirety.

The judge was particularly critical of the action, describing it as one that ought not to have been instituted in the first place.

According to the court, the plaintiff was aware from the extensive searches he claimed to have conducted that APP had not been deregistered and that previous court decisions had already affirmed the party’s status.

“The plaintiff merely wasted the time of the court and the defendants,” the judge ruled while awarding punitive costs against him.

The judgement effectively reinforces APP’s legal standing and clears the party to continue participating in electoral activities as a registered political party recognised by INEC.

However, in another matter, a Federal High Court in Abuja had earlier on Monday ordered the deregistration of APP and four other political political parties for failing to meet constitutional requirements.