Court Fixes July 7 to Hear ADC, Four Other Parties’ Deregistration Appeals

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has fixed July 7, 2026, to hear appeals filed by the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Accord Party and three other political parties challenging their deregistration.

A three-member panel of the appellate court fixed the date on Thursday after directing all parties in the suits to file and exchange their briefs of argument ahead of the hearing.

During Thursday’s proceedings, counsel to the Accord Party, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), informed the court that the record of appeal and the certified true copy of the Federal High Court’s judgment were only obtained on Monday and subsequently transmitted to the Court of Appeal in line with legal requirements.

He therefore sought a short adjournment to enable parties file and exchange their briefs of argument before the hearing.

As the application was not opposed by any of the parties, the presiding Justice, Abubakar Mohammed, adjourned all the appeals to July 7 for hearing.

The appeals stem from a judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC and four other political parties for allegedly failing to meet constitutional requirements in the previous general election.

Although INEC opposed the suit and presented evidence that the affected parties had satisfied the constitutional requirements, the trial court still ordered their deregistration.

However, on June 16, the Court of Appeal ordered a stay of execution of the Federal High Court’s judgment, preventing INEC from implementing the deregistration pending the determination of the appeals.

The appellate court held that Justice Lifu delivered the judgment despite an existing order directing that proceedings in the matter be suspended, describing the action as an affront to the hierarchy of courts and an act of judicial rascality.