INEC: 74 deregistered political parties are out in the cold until Supreme Court rules otherwise

▪︎ Says will only recognise, deal with 18 parties for now

The Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), on Friday, insisted that it would continue to restrict its recognition for political parties for only 18 whose registration it had validated.

It said that the 74 deregister political parties still had some legal hurdles to cross at the Supreme Court where an appeal challenging their deregusteration was pending.

Until they are able to cure the mischief of their disqualification at the Supreme Court, they remain alien to the electoral body.

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The electoral body declared that it would continue to recognize and deal with only 18 registered political parties pending the final resolution and determination of the various appeals filed and pending before the Supreme Court.

It said that based on this position, it would not monitor any purported primaries by any of the deregistered 74 political parties and would not issue access code to or accept the list and particulars of candidates emanating from such primaries.

INEC therefore counseled the 74 deregistered political parties to await the judgment of the Supreme Court on appeals relating to the powers of the Commission to deregister political parties in accordance with section 225A of the Constitution.

The Commission said that it was always ready to obey Court orders and would abide by any judgment delivered by the Supreme Court.

National Commissioner & Chairman of the Information, Voter Education and Publicity Committee of INEC, Mr Festus Okoye Esq., offered these clarifications in a statement in Abuja.

He explained that the statement became necessary against the backdrop of various letters submitted to the Commission recently by some of the deregistered political parties, signifying their intention to conduct primaries with a view to submitting names and particulars of candidates for the Anambra Governorship election.

Okoye stated that the deregistered parties hinged their request to nominate candidates on the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on June 11, 2020.

INEC on August 10, 2020, issued a statement affirming that the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered in favour of the 22 deregistered political parties was in conflict with the judgment delivered by the same Court in the case of National Unity Party (NUP) vs. INEC.

In that judgment, the Court affirmed the powers of the Commission to deregister NUP and other political parties.

INEC stated; “The National Unity Party has appealed against the said judgment to the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the case is presently pending in that Court.

“The appeal as well as the one filed by the Commission against the judgment of the Court of Appeal relating to the 22 deregistered parties are pending in the Supreme Court.

“Considering the conflict between the two judgements, the Commission counselled that ‘It is in the interest of the electoral process for both matters to be consolidated. The electoral process will be better served through a final resolution of the issues in the deregistration of political parties.

“It will also enable the commission to stand on firm grounds rather than pick and choose which between two conflicting decisions it should obey.”

Meanwhile, INEC has urged the registered political parties to strictly adhere to the provisions of their constitutions on internal party administration and nomination of candidates for elections.

It said that the advice became necessary in view of the recent rash of complaints regarding the dissolution of the Executives of State branches even where their tenures have not expired as well as the plethora of conflicting court orders with respect to party primaries and candidature long after elections had been conducted by the Commission.

It said; “Respect for party Constitution and due process are cardinal to electoral democracy. Political parties are hereby reminded of their obligations to internal democracy and the rule of law.

“The Commission uses this opportunity to appeal to all critical stakeholders to support its efforts to strengthen the electoral process. These efforts presently include but are not limited to the initiative to expand access of voters to Polling Units; resumption of the Continuous Voters Registration; amendment of the Electoral Legal Framework; preparations for the conduct of the Anambra, Ekiti and Osun Governorship elections and some bye-elections; the deepening of the use of technology in the electoral process as well as early preparations for 2023 General Election.”