Federal High Court Retains APP, Fines Plaintiff ₦20 Million

A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri has dismissed a suit seeking to deregister the Action Peoples Party and ordered the plaintiff to pay ₦20 million in costs. Justice Iniekenimi Oweibo delivered the judgment on June 2, 2026, in suit number FHC/OW/CS/39/2026, holding that the plaintiff failed to establish that the party was ever lawfully deregistered. The court directed INEC to keep APP on its register and on the ballot for the 2027 general election.

The ruling ended a five-month case brought by Mazi Franklin Ngoforo of Civic Action for Democracy. It came thirteen days before a separate Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the same party deregistered alongside four others. APP’s place on the register now sits between two contradictory orders from two divisions of the same court.

Owerri Federal High Court Retains APP, Fines Plaintiff ₦20 Million

Justice Iniekenimi Oweibo resolved all five issues in the suit against the plaintiff on June 2, 2026, and dismissed every one of the 21 reliefs sought. The court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to retain APP on its register and to keep the party on the ballot for the 2027 general election. Justice Oweibo also awarded ₦10 million in costs against the plaintiff in favour of INEC and another ₦10 million in favour of APP, bringing the total to ₦20 million.

• Judgment date: June 2, 2026
• Suit number: FHC/OW/CS/39/2026
• Presiding judge: Justice Iniekenimi Oweibo
• Cost to INEC: ₦10 million
• Cost to APP: ₦10 million

The judgment, reported in detail by the Owerri judgment that retained APP on the INEC register, recorded that APP had not been deregistered during INEC’s February 6, 2020 deregistration exercise. The court ruled that the plaintiff conducted extensive searches but could not produce any evidence that APP was lawfully deregistered. Evidence before the court instead showed that APP had obtained an enrolled order from an Abuja federal high court in 2020 restraining INEC from deregisterging it, and that order remained subsisting. The judge therefore held that the party’s participation in electoral activities was consistent with the law.

Civic Action for Democracy and the Case to Pull APP From the Register

The plaintiff, Mazi Franklin Ngoforo, is the executive director of Civic Action for Democracy, a non-partisan civil society group that filed the suit on January 20, 2026. Ngoforo argued that APP’s continued listing on INEC’s database, despite an alleged deregistration alongside other parties that failed to win any seat in 2019, was an “electoral misnomer.” The group sought 21 distinct reliefs, including a perpetual injunction stopping INEC from recognising the party, as described in Civic Action for Democracy’s January filing at the Federal High Court.

The suit named INEC as the first defendant, the Attorney-General of the Federation as the second, and APP as the third. At a February 27, 2026 hearing, INEC failed to send a legal representative and APP’s counsel asked for more time to file a defence, prompting Justice Oweibo to adjourn the matter to April 16.

Ngoforo’s group relied on media reports and a Supreme Court judgment from March 2022 affirming INEC’s power to deregister parties that failed to meet constitutional requirements. The plaintiff framed the action as a defence of “the soul of Nigerian democracy” rather than a politically motivated suit. At a press conference, Ngoforo said the retention of APP on the register was being used to “exploit a legal loophole to nullify the 2027 general elections.” He called on the National Assembly to summon INEC’s leadership and on the Department of State Services, the police, and the EFCC to investigate the APP file.

The FCT Order APP Carried Into Court

APP’s defence at the Owerri hearing turned on an enrolled order it had obtained in 2020 from the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. The order, issued in suit number FCT/HC/BW/CV/176/2020, restrained INEC from taking action to deregister the party. APP tendered the order before Justice Oweibo, and the judge found that it had not been challenged for authenticity or shown to be invalid.

The enrolled order directed that the leave granted for judicial review should operate as a stay of all actions connected with the subject matter of the suit. Justice Oweibo held that the order remained subsisting, meaning APP had never been lawfully removed from the register. The court concluded that INEC was under no obligation to delist a party that had not been deregistered. The judgment recorded that the plaintiff “could not produce any evidence that APP was lawfully deregistered” despite conducting “extensive searches.” The plaintiff’s argument that the restraining order was “false” and “constituted fraud,” the court found, was not backed by evidence on the face of the record.

The Judge’s Reasoning: A Suit That Should Never Have Been Filed

Justice Oweibo was unusually direct about the case. He held that the plaintiff failed to establish that the third defendant, APP, was ever deregistered by INEC during the 2020 exercise. He noted that the plaintiff was aware from his own investigations that APP had not been deregistered. He was also aware of earlier decisions of both the High Court and the Court of Appeal affirming the party’s status, the judgment recorded.

The 3rd defendant was at no time deregistered. As a political party that is registered and recognized by INEC, its participation in electoral activities was in line with the law.

The judge called the action a waste of judicial time and the resources of the defendants. He said the suit was one that should never have been filed, language the judgment reserved for a case whose flaws the plaintiff was said to have understood from the start.

The court resolved every one of the five issues submitted for adjudication against the plaintiff and dismissed the suit in its entirety. The reliefs sought were rejected across the board. The court held that deregistering a party that had not been lawfully removed would itself be inconsistent with the Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022. That finding, the judgment noted, foreclosed the very remedy Ngoforo had asked for.

₦20 Million in Costs Against the Plaintiff

The cost order was split evenly between the two state-side winners. The court awarded ₦10 million in favour of INEC, the first defendant. It awarded another ₦10 million in favour of APP, the third defendant.

The judge said the plaintiff was “fully aware” that APP had not been deregistered and that the case had no merit. The judgment emphasised that the action amounted to a waste of judicial time and the resources of the defendants. All 21 reliefs were refused. The court also noted that the plaintiff did not produce any order setting aside the FCT stay obtained by APP in 2020, leaving that order to stand as the operative restraint on INEC’s 2020 deregistration move.

A Conflicting Order From Abuja

On June 15, 2026, thirteen days after the Owerri judgment, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja took the opposite view and ordered INEC to deregister APP alongside four other parties. The five parties affected were the African Democratic Congress, Accord Party, Action Alliance, APP, and Zenith Labour Party. The order came in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators, as reported in the June 15 Abuja ruling that ordered APP deregistered.

Justice Lifu dismissed all preliminary objections filed by the defendants before reaching the merits. He found that the five parties had failed to secure 25 per cent of votes cast in the last general elections, the constitutional threshold for remaining registered. He ordered INEC not to allow the parties to participate in subsequent elections, including the 2027 general polls. The judgment also directed the electoral body to remove the five names from its register of political parties.

The Abuja case was brought by a different plaintiff on a different theory. The Forum of Former Legislators argued that the parties had failed to meet constitutional requirements relating to electoral spread and performance. The defendants, in turn, were the same INEC and the same APP, plus the AGF and the four other parties.

APP’s national leader, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, member representing Ideato Federal Constituency, condemned the Abuja judgment the same day. He called the ruling an “invitation to anarchy.” He argued that deregistering parties by court order, on the eve of a general election, would erode the constitutional right of Nigerians to associate politically. The party, he said, would explore all legal options to protect its place on the register.

What the Split Verdicts Mean for 2027

Two federal high courts have now given Nigeria’s electoral umpire two opposite instructions about the same party in two weeks. The Owerri division says APP is registered, was never deregistered, and must be on the 2027 ballot. The Abuja division says APP must be struck off the register along with four other parties. INEC now sits between two contradictory orders, both issued by courts of coordinate jurisdiction, and both drawing on the same constitutional source of authority.

The split verdicts echo the deregistration saga that has hung over APP since the February 6, 2020 exercise. The party’s status, in the words of the Owerri judgment, was “technically” never deregistered, because of the FCT stay it obtained in 2020. The March 2022 Supreme Court ruling the plaintiff relied on affirmed INEC’s power to deregister, not APP’s specific removal.

For APP, the Owerri judgment is a clearance to contest, backed by an enrolled order from another federal high court. Against it stands the Abuja judgment of June 15, 2026, which ordered the same deregistration the Owerri court found had never lawfully happened. The contradiction is now between the courts, not between the parties, and only an appellate ruling, or a decision by INEC to pick one order and seek a stay of the other, can settle it. Until that happens, APP’s status on the register is, on the face of the two rulings, both valid and void.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the court deregister the Action Peoples Party?

A Federal High Court in Owerri ruled on June 2, 2026 that the Action Peoples Party was never lawfully deregistered, and ordered INEC to keep the party on its register and on the 2027 ballot. A separate Federal High Court in Abuja ruled on June 15, 2026 that APP should be deregistered alongside four other parties. The two rulings are in direct conflict.

Who is Mazi Franklin Ngoforo?

Mazi Franklin Ngoforo is the executive director of Civic Action for Democracy, a non-partisan civil society organisation that filed the Owerri suit in January 2026. His group sought 21 reliefs aimed at removing APP from the INEC register. Justice Oweibo fined the group ₦20 million and described the action as one that should never have been filed.

What was the FCT court order APP relied on?

APP tendered an enrolled order from the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in suit number FCT/HC/BW/CV/176/2020, which restrained INEC from deregisterring the party. Justice Oweibo found that the order remained subsisting, that APP had therefore never been lawfully removed, and that INEC had no obligation to delist it.

What did the Abuja Federal High Court rule on June 15, 2026?

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered INEC to deregister APP, the African Democratic Congress, Accord Party, Action Alliance, and Zenith Labour Party for failing to secure 25 per cent of votes in the last general elections. The ruling came in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators.

Can APP still contest the 2027 elections?

The Owerri judgment of June 2, 2026 cleared APP to contest the 2027 elections. The Abuja judgment of June 15, 2026 ordered the party deregistered and barred from subsequent elections. Both orders are in force on the same date, leaving the question of APP’s participation to INEC, the appellate courts, or a further ruling from the Federal High Court.