Supreme Court Affirms INEC’s Power To Deregister Political Parties

The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has constitutional powers to deregister defaulting political parties.

The apex court dismissed the suit filed by the National Unity Party, which sought overturning of its deregistration by INEC, The Nation reports.

THE WHISTLER reported that INEC had on February 6, 2020, announced the deregistration of about 70 political parties in the country of which NUP was among those affected.

INEC stated that the parties failed to score at least 25% of votes cast in one state in a presidential election, or in one local government of a state in a governorship election, hence, their deregistration.

Recall that NUP had on May 28, 2020, approached a Federal High Court in Abuja over the electoral body’s decision.

But Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court had struck out an application of NUP, adding that their deregistration was backed by the constitutional powers of INEC in line with Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution.