Court Dismisses Suit Seeking APP’s Deregistration

. Ngoforo To Pay N20m In Damages

A Federal High Court in Owerri, Imo State, has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the legal status of the Action People’s Party (APP).

The court ruled that the political party was never deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and remains a duly recognized political party under Nigerian law.

In a judgment, Justice I.N. Oweibo rejected all reliefs sought by the plaintiff, who had requested the court to compel INEC to remove APP from its register of political parties.

The plaintiff alleged that APP was deregistered during INEC’s 2020 exercise, which affected 74 political parties.

The plaintiff contended that APP’s participation in electoral activities, including the 2024 Rivers State Local Government Elections and local council polls in Jigawa State, was unlawful because the party purportedly ceased to exist following the February 6, 2020 deregistration exercise.

To support the claim, the plaintiff relied on media reports and a Supreme Court judgment affirming INEC’s authority to deregister political parties that failed to meet constitutional requirements.

However, the court found that the plaintiff failed to establish that APP was ever lawfully deregistered.

In delivering the judgment, the court noted that evidence demonstrated that APP had, on the very day the deregistration exercise was announced, approached the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and obtained an order restraining INEC from taking any action affecting its status pending the determination of its judicial review proceedings.

The court observed that the enrolled order, presented by APP, directed that the leave granted for judicial review should serve as a stay of all actions related to the subject matter of the suit.

According to the court, the plaintiff failed to challenge the authenticity of the order or prove its invalidity.

“I find, based on the evidence, that the 3rd Defendant initiated an action against the 1st Defendant and obtained an order preventing the 1st Defendant from taking any action regarding the deregistration of the 3rd Defendant,” the judge stated.

The court further rejected the plaintiff’s argument that an interim order could not remain effective for nearly six years, explaining that the order in question was not a typical interim injunction but a stay granted in judicial review proceedings.

Citing Order 44 Rule 3(6) of the FCT High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, the judge ruled that such a stay remains in effect until the substantive application is determined or until the court orders otherwise.

The court also concurred with INEC and APP that the Supreme Court decision relied upon by the plaintiff did not specifically address APP’s status, as the party was not a litigant in the proceedings that culminated in the apex court’s judgment at the time.

INEC consistently maintained throughout the proceedings that APP remained a registered political party and denied allegations of fraud or collusion in retaining the party on its register.

The electoral body argued that the media reports cited by the plaintiff did not constitute official evidence of deregistration and insisted that its actions had always been guided by prevailing court orders and judicial pronouncements.

APP, in its defense, asserted that it was never among the parties lawfully deregistered by INEC and presented court judgments supporting its position.

The party also denied allegations that its continued participation in elections was fraudulent, maintaining that all its electoral activities were conducted within the framework of the law.

In its final determination, the court resolved all five issues submitted for adjudication against the plaintiff and dismissed the suit in its entirety.

The judge was particularly critical of the action, describing it as one that ought not to have been instituted in the first place.

According to the court, the plaintiff was aware from the extensive searches he claimed to have conducted that APP had not been deregistered and that previous court decisions had already affirmed the party’s status.

“The plaintiff merely wasted the time of the court and the defendants,” the judge ruled while awarding punitive costs against him.

The judgment effectively reinforces APP’s legal standing and allows the party to continue participating in electoral activities as a registered political party recognized by INEC.

However, in a separate matter, a Federal High Court in Abuja had earlier on Monday ordered the deregistration of APP and four other political parties for failing to meet constitutional requirements.