S’court Affirms 74 Political Parties’ De- registration

THE Supreme Court has affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which okayed the deregistration of National Unity Party ( NUP) and 73 other political parties.

In the appeal before the apex court, NUP challenged the affirmation of their deregistration by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.

The Abuja Division of the

Court of Appeal had on July 29, last year, upheld the powers of the Commission to deregister political parties.

Delivering the lead judgment of a panel of the court, Justice Mohammed Idris, held that INEC did not err in law in deregistering NUP, which filed the appeal.

INEC, in deregistering the affected 74 political parties in February, stated that they failed to meet the minimum requirement of winning any seat during the 2019 general elections.