The Federal High Court in Abuja says the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the Alliance for United Nigeria (AUN), as a political party is in order.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the ruling in a judgment delivered on Wednesday. The presiding judge held that INEC’s decision to deregister the party was right and was in line with the provision of section 225(a) of the Nigerian Constitution.
Justice Mohammed ruled that AUN failed to meet the statutory threshold of the registration requirement for political parties, hence their deregistration as a party in the country.
He held that having participated in the 2019 general elections and failed to win any seat in either federal, state, or local government levels INEC was right to deregister the party as stipulated in the constitutional provision.
Consequently, the court dismissed the suit AUN filed to challenge its deregistration as a political party in the country.
Naija News recalls that AUN had filed a suit on February 13, urging the court to nullify its deregistration by INEC, saying that the action taken by the commission was not unconstitutional and amounted to an infringement of its right.
AUN further applied for an order to be relisted as a political party. It told the court that it had already fielded candidates for an impending election in Cross River State, saying it would suffer immense hardship except its deregistration was reversed.
Meanwhile, INEC had in a counter-affidavit they filed against the suit, told the court that the Plaintiff which was registered before February 6, 2020, participated in the 2019 general elections but failed to win at least 25% of votes cast in any state of the federation.
The commission told the court that the certificate of registration of the Plaintiff was lawfully withdrawn. INEC argued that it was constitutionally empowered to deregister any political party that failed to meet the registration requirement.
