From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The member of the House of Representatives, representing Ideato Federal Constituency of Imo State, Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere, has lauded the Court of Appeal for halting the deregistration of some political parties, ahead of the 2027 general election.
Ugochinyere, while speaking at a press briefing, in Abuja, said alleged moves to deregister the African Democratic Congress ( ADC), Accord , Action Peoples Party ( APP), Zenith Labour Party ( ZLP) , among others, through the courts, was capable of causing unrest in the polity.
The Forum of Former Legislator had filed a suit before a Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking the deregistration of the political parties for allegedly not meeting the set requirements to continue to exist. However, the Court of Appeal, last Friday, stayed proceedings in the suit.
The lawmaker, while hailing the appealate court for its intervention, said the suit to deregister the parties was allegedly orchestrated to stop opposition candidates from participating in coming elections.
He expressed concerns that despite existing constitutional provisions and subsisting court judgments affirming that political parties cannot be deregistered once they have won at least one elective seat, the case was still being aggressively pursued, before the order of the Court of Appeal.
Ugochinyere, while citing Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution ( as amended)
noted that parties like ADC, Accord and APP had already fulfilled constitutional requirements by winning elective positions, including councillorship seats.
According to him, “the Constitution is clear. Once a party wins even one councillorship seat, deregistration does not arise.”
The lawmaker, while appealing to President Bola Tinubu, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the National Judicial Council and security chiefs to safeguard democratic institutions from abuse, accused some desperate politicians of alleged attempts the destroy Nigeria’s democracy.
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