- We welcome court’s decision on non-performing parties
It was invigorating for Nigeria’s electoral process recently as a Federal High Court in Abuja affirmed the power of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist non-performing political parties. That verdict was in adjudication of a challenge posed by one of the political parties deregistered earlier this year by the commission.
Justice Taiwo O. Taiwo, in a judgment delivered on May 18, but whose certified true copy was issued on May 27, dismissed a petition lodged by the National Unity Party (NUP), one of the 74 parties deregistered by INEC in February. The judge held that the commission acted rightly in accordance with Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, as Amended, in delisting parties that do not comply with express provisions of the law.
The referenced Section 225A prescribes that INEC shall have power to deregister a political party for: (a) Breach of any of the requirements for registration; (b) Failure to win at least 25 percent of votes cast in one state of the federation in a Presidential election or one local government in a Governorship election; or (c) Failure to win at least one ward in a Chairmanship election, one seat in the National Assembly or state House of Assembly, or one seat in a Councillorship election.
Until recent history, the power of the electoral commission to deregister non-performing political parties had derived from Section 78(7a) of the Electoral Act 2010, as Amended. Previously delisted parties routinely challenged that power in court by arguing that it infringed their right to free association under the Constitution, which is the superior law. And they often got the courts to reverse their deregistration by INEC. Hence with minimalist requirements under the law to get registered, parties have mushroomed even though many existed only nominally in the briefcases of their promoters. Before INEC’s February hammer, there were more than 90 parties on its roll.
Then came Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, as Amended, inserted by way of the Fourth Alteration (No.9) Act 2017, which elevated the power of the electoral commission to deregister non-viable parties into a constitutional mandate. That was the power wielded by INEC in February. NUP seized on the provision making allowance for winning at least one ward in a chairmanship poll or one seat in councillorship to argue in court that INEC acted pre-emptively, since not all states had conducted council elections – making it premature to ascertain which party had conclusively failed to meet the requirements.
In its verdict, however, the court held that the reasons given by the electoral commission for deregistering the parties were valid, in conformity with the law, sacrosanct and could not be affected by the fact of anticipated council elections by some states which dates were not fixed, certain or even ascertainable. It added that the deregistration of NUP, and by implication the others, was lawfully done in exercise of the powers constitutionally vested on INEC.
A replica of the failed suit by NUP is being pursued presently by 31 other deregistered political parties before another Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Anwuli Chikere. The judge has fixed tomorrow for judgment.
We warmly welcome the verdict by Justice Taiwo as helpful for sanitising Nigeria’s political space. Statutory requirements for getting parties registered have been too easily attainable, and there is a throng of applications for registration pending with the commission. Without a way of weeding out nominal parties, the political space gets needlessly cluttered up and election logistics unwieldy. Besides, some of these parties have been known to hang in only to play the spoiler in the electoral process. These factors are not salutary to our electoral system.
We commend INEC for having done its duty under the law, and Justice Taiwo’s court for upholding the commission’s hand. It is hoped this verdict will stand on appeal should the plaintiff take to that recourse.
