Deregistration: ANRP Slams INEC 2 Billion Suit

ABUJA, 24 March 2020 — Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court, claiming N2 billion in damages for the election management body’s damaging claim to have delisted her as a duly-registered political party, and thereby bringing the party’s hard-earned reputation, goodwill, and brand value to disesteem and disrepute.

The grounds of the action in the suit filed at the Federal High Court Abuja are that:

1. Section 225A of the constitution which gave INEC the power to deregister parties, not providing a procedure for a party sought to be delisted to make representation to INEC before the decision is made, is invalid being in conflict with S.36 (1) and (2) of the constitution which provides for fair hearing in the determination of the rights and obligations of any person as an inalienable right.
2. The power granted under section 225A have not arisen given that the section envisages that all events of deregistration must have occurred before the power is exercised. On this issue, INEC itself admitted that all events are yet to occur, as its decision was based on elections held in the FCT and the 2019 general election only.
3. There are already extant orders and proceedings of the court preventing INEC from exercising the power which it went ahead to do. For instance, the order of perpetual injunction confirmed by the Court of Appeal in Jezie Ekejiuba v Inec & Anor , as well as the subsisting order in the ongoing Advance Congress of Democrats & 32 Ors v AG Fed & INEC .
4. The power granted under section 225A ought not to operate retroactively in imposing the penalty of deregistration on political parties existing before its enactment when deregistration was not a term of registration at the time.
5. Winning elections (by all means) is not part of the exhaustive constitutional provisions on the objectives of a political party.

The matter is yet to be assigned to a particular court along with a date for the trial to commence, after which the defendant, INEC, will be served the court processes.

Sesugh Akume
National Spokesman