The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approached the court of appeal in Abuja, seeking a stay of execution of a judgement that ordered the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.
In a judgement on Monday, Peter Lifu, a federal high court judge, ordered the deregistration of ADC, Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) over their failure to meet the conditions for retaining their registration.
INEC has now backed an application filed by the affected parties, seeking to suspend the enforcement of the judgement pending the determination of an appeal.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, INEC said it was surprised that the high court judge delivered the judgement despite an earlier order of the appellate court halting its delivery.
Haliru Mohammed, counsel to the commission, told the three-member panel that INEC was neither notified of the judgement date nor served with any communication indicating that the decision would be delivered.
“My Lords, we are aware of an order that this court made on May 22, which stopped the delivery of the judgement of the lower court, which was initially reserved for delivery on June 5,” the lawyer said.
“We were not aware of any notice from the court regarding the delivery of the judgement. We only saw it as breaking news in the media.
“We therefore do not oppose the application of the appellant to stay the execution of the judgement.”
Shuaibu Aruwa, counsel to the ADC, alleged that the trial judge notified the party of the judgement through WhatsApp.
“Sincerely, my Lords, a lot has happened to the judiciary and this profession. What the trial judge did was dare this court of appeal by insisting that no one could arrest his judgement, even after his attention was drawn to the stay order from this court,” he said.
“The action of the trial judge calls for swift and extraordinary measures from this court. We have come to the stage where this court should press the reset button.”
Aruwa urged the appellate court to immediately suspend the judgement, arguing that it has the authority to protect the integrity of its own orders.
Other parties in the suit also warned that allowing the judgement to stand could create complications ahead of the by-elections scheduled for June 20 in six states.