APP Leader Rejects Court Order to Deregister Five Nigerian Parties

The National Leader of the Action Peoples Party, Ikenga Ugochinyere, on Monday rejected a Federal High Court judgment that ordered the deregistration of his party and four others, warning that enforcing the ruling would be “an invitation to anarchy.” Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to strike the African Democratic Congress, the Action Peoples Party, the Action Alliance, the Accord Party and the Zenith Labour Party from its register of political parties for allegedly failing to satisfy constitutional and electoral performance requirements.

The Judgment and the First Reaction from the APP

Justice Peter Lifu delivered the ruling in Abuja on Monday, directing the Independent National Electoral Commission to remove the African Democratic Congress, the Action Peoples Party, the Action Alliance, the Accord Party and the Zenith Labour Party from its register of registered parties. The order followed a suit filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators, which argued that the five political parties had failed to meet electoral performance benchmarks under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022. Those benchmarks include securing at least 25 per cent of votes in a state during a presidential election or winning at least one elective seat at the national, state or local government level, the constitutional thresholds cited in the deregistration suit.

Speaking in Abuja on Monday, Ugochinyere described the ruling as “deeply troubling” and capable of setting a dangerous precedent for multiparty democracy in Nigeria. The APP national leader, who represents the Ideato North and Ideato South Federal Constituency of Imo State in the House of Representatives, framed the decision as a direct threat to voter choice. He said any attempt to deregister legally registered parties through judicial interpretation would be counterproductive. He added that, in a country shaped by decades of struggle against authoritarian governance, narrowing the political space could revive memories of past crises that threatened national stability.

The judiciary remains the last hope of the common man. If judgments of superior courts can be ignored, then we are endangering one of the most important institutions of our democracy.

Ikenga Ugochinyere, National Leader of the Action Peoples Party, speaking in Abuja on Monday, as reported in his statement on the Federal High Court judgment.

Why the APP Leader Says the Order Cannot Reach His Party

Ugochinyere’s strongest argument is that the Action Peoples Party is not, in any practical sense, bound by Monday’s ruling. He chairs the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), and he insists the APP’s registration has already been litigated and confirmed by superior courts.

The parties that Justice Lifu ordered deregistered are:

• African Democratic Congress (ADC)
• Action Peoples Party (APP)
• Action Alliance (AA)
• Accord Party
• Zenith Labour Party (ZLP)

Ugochinyere argued that at least three separate Federal High Court judgments have already found that the APP met every constitutional and statutory requirement for registration as a political party. Those decisions, he said, were affirmed by the Court of Appeal and reinforced by the Supreme Court. Under the doctrine of judicial precedent and the hierarchy of Nigerian courts, a lower court ruling cannot overturn a higher court’s confirmation, he maintained. “The APP’s status as a duly registered political party has already been settled by multiple judicial pronouncements culminating in decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court,” he said, Ugochinyere’s statement that APP remains legally recognised.

He therefore described Justice Lifu’s order, insofar as it touched the APP, as “an academic exercise with no practical consequence” on the party’s standing with INEC. The party, he said, will keep fielding candidates in the 2027 general elections and every other electoral process, unless a contrary order comes from a court with jurisdiction over the matter. The clarification came as opposition figures across the affected parties scrambled to make sense of the ruling and weigh their next legal steps.

The 2023 Electoral Results the Parties Say Already Qualify Them

Ugochinyere pointed to specific 2023 general elections wins to argue that the deregistration suit ignores the very performance thresholds it cites. He said INEC itself confirmed during the proceedings that the affected parties had in fact met the constitutional requirements. The ADC, he said, won two House of Representatives seats in Kogi State during the 2023 general elections. The APP, by his account, secured a local government chairmanship seat in Jigawa State, while the Accord Party won a seat in the Imo State House of Assembly. Ugochinyere insisted that, under the constitution, those electoral victories were sufficient to justify the parties’ continued registration, and that any contrary reading would distort the intent of the law.

The argument matters because the deregistration suit rests on the premise that the affected parties had failed to meet those thresholds, not that they had failed to register in the first place. Ugochinyere’s reading is that a party that has won any elective position, from councillorship upward, has cleared the bar that Section 225A sets. INEC’s public position in its own counter-affidavit, that no party had failed any constitutional performance threshold, lines up with that interpretation.

The Court of Appeal Stay Justice Lifu Has Been Accused of Overriding

The most serious procedural objection to Monday’s ruling is one that the APP, the ADC and Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke have all raised in nearly identical terms. A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Mohammed A. Danjuma, issued an order on May 22, 2026 restraining the Federal High Court from taking further steps in the matter pending the determination of an appeal filed by the Accord Party. The appellate court subsequently fixed October 27, 2026, for hearing of the appeal. Sources familiar with the proceedings told PRNigeria that when the certified enrolled order and the notice of appeal were served on the Federal High Court, Justice Lifu reportedly declined to suspend proceedings, a detailed account of the procedural override. He maintained that the move was intended to delay or frustrate the delivery of judgment, even though he had earlier reserved judgment indefinitely before eventually fixing Monday for the ruling.

The underlying appeal grew out of an application by Governor Adeleke, who sought to be joined as a defendant in the suit through the Accord Party. Adeleke had emerged as the Accord Party’s governorship candidate for the August 15, 2026 Osun State governorship election, and he argued that he had a direct and substantial interest in the matter.

Justice Lifu rejected that joinder application on April 27. Adeleke, through his counsel, Chief Musibau Adetunbi, then approached the Court of Appeal, which held that the issues raised by the governor deserved judicial examination and directed the trial court to halt proceedings. Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, said the appellate court specifically pronounced that “the delivery of the judgment is still part of the proceedings of the court” and put that on the record as Exhibit MAC 2 before Justice Lifu. The governor urged Osun residents and party supporters to remain calm, with the Court of Appeal scheduled to take up the matter on Tuesday.

Ugochinyere made the same point from a different angle. He said the appellate court had already intervened, and the parties were expected to await its determination before any further action at the trial court level. He also alleged procedural irregularities in the delivery of the judgment, claiming that legal representatives were given short notice to appear despite ongoing appellate proceedings.

• Suit filed by: National Forum of Former Legislators
• Constitutional basis: Section 225A, 1999 Constitution + Electoral Act 2022
• Court of Appeal stay issued: May 22, 2026
• Court of Appeal panel: Justices Danjuma, Banjoko, Oyewumi
• Appeal hearing scheduled: October 27, 2026
• Osun governorship election: August 15, 2026

ADC Rejects the Ruling and Plans an NJC Petition

The African Democratic Congress issued a parallel rejection of the judgment, with its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, describing the ruling as an attempt to use the judiciary as an instrument to undermine democracy and plunge Nigeria into a major political crisis. The ADC said the judgment stands in direct conflict with constitutional principles and all known judicial processes. The party pointed to INEC’s own counter-affidavit, filed before the court in May, in which the electoral commission had “categorically maintained that the ADC had not violated any registration requirements, had not failed any constitutional electoral-performance threshold, and that no legally recognised basis existed for its de-registration.” INEC, the ADC noted, told the court that deregistration must be based strictly on constitutionally established grounds and cannot be driven by political pressure or the wishes of interested parties. “Whatever it takes, the ADC will be on the ballot so long as the 2027 general election is to hold,” the party’s statement said.

Beyond the substance, the ADC also accused Justice Lifu of ignoring the May 22, 2026 Court of Appeal stay and announced plans to petition the National Judicial Council over what the party called “judicial rascality.” The party pledged to challenge the judgment through every lawful and constitutional avenue, while urging members, supporters and coalition partners to remain calm.

Let it be clearly stated: the ADC will not stand by while the democratic rights of millions of Nigerians are threatened.

Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress, in a statement on Monday.

Atiku, Adeleke and What Hangs on the Outcome for 2027

The political consequences of the ruling are concentrated in two figures and two election calendars. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar recently emerged as the ADC’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general election, with the party having just concluded its primaries. Governor Adeleke is the Accord Party’s candidate for the August 15, 2026 Osun State governorship election, a contest he is fighting to hold in a state his party already governs. ADC National Chairman David Mark described the judgment as “an arrow fired at the heart of Nigeria’s democracy” and said the party remained confident the ruling would be overturned on appeal.

For the APP, the political calculation is different. Ugochinyere framed the moment as a defense of multiparty competition rather than a defensive legal maneuver, even as he made clear that the APP intends to keep operating exactly as it has. The Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear the underlying appeal on October 27, 2026, well after the Osun off-cycle election and ahead of substantive 2027 primary contests.

Ugochinyere’s broader warning was political, not legal. “Let all political parties participate and let Nigerians decide who they want,” he said. “Democracy is about participation and competition, not exclusion.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Which political parties did the Federal High Court order deregistered?

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered INEC to deregister five political parties on a single day. The ruling named the African Democratic Congress, the Action Peoples Party, the Action Alliance, the Accord Party and the Zenith Labour Party, after a suit filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators. The plaintiffs argued the parties had failed to meet electoral performance benchmarks under Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022.

Who is Ikenga Ugochinyere and what is the APP’s argument?

Ugochinyere is the National Leader of the Action Peoples Party and the House of Representatives member for Ideato North and Ideato South Federal Constituency of Imo State. He also chairs the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), a position that puts him at the centre of Nigeria’s downstream petroleum policy debates. His central argument on the judgment is that the APP’s registration has already been confirmed by at least three Federal High Court judgments, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, and that a lower court cannot invalidate those higher court rulings.

Why are the affected parties claiming the trial court had no authority to deliver judgment?

On May 22, 2026, a three-member Court of Appeal panel led by Justice Mohammed A. Danjuma directed the Federal High Court to stay proceedings pending the determination of an appeal filed by the Accord Party, and fixed October 27, 2026 for the appeal hearing. The ADC, the APP and Governor Ademola Adeleke have all alleged that Justice Lifu delivered judgment in defiance of that subsisting appellate order, which would normally force the lower court to wait.

What position did INEC take on the deregistration question?

INEC filed a counter-affidavit in May in which it told the Federal High Court that none of the affected parties had violated any registration requirements and none had failed any constitutional electoral-performance threshold. The electoral commission added that deregistration must rest on constitutionally established grounds and cannot be driven by political pressure or the wishes of interested parties. The Monday judgment ordered the deregistration of all five parties regardless.

How could the ruling affect the 2027 general elections?

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is the African Democratic Congress’s presidential candidate for 2027, and the ADC has said it will fight to remain on the ballot. Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke is the Accord Party’s candidate for the August 15, 2026 Osun State governorship election, with the Court of Appeal scheduled to take up the underlying appeal on October 27, 2026. Ugochinyere has framed the APP’s response as a defense of multiparty competition, saying the party will continue to participate in all electoral activities.