Atiku welcomes Appeal Court order halting ADC deregistration judgment

In a statement posted via his verified X handle shortly after the appellate court’s order on Tuesday, Atiku described the intervention as significant, particularly because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) supported the application for a stay of execution.

“I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgment seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties,” he stated, adding “It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.”

Mr Abubakar expressed concern about conflicting judicial decisions and politically sensitive rulings. He argued that the developments had placed the judiciary under intense public scrutiny.

“The disturbing spectacle of judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings playing out in our courts has placed the judiciary under intense public scrutiny,” he stated.

The former vice president also echoed comments by ADC’s national chairperson David Mark that the judiciary itself had come under scrutiny because of recent developments.

He warned against actions that could weaken democratic institutions and urged the courts to uphold constitutional principles and the rule of law.

“Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic,” he argued.

Atiku, however, added that the judiciary still had an opportunity to “stand firmly on the side of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the Nigerian people.”

The judgement, if not set aside or its execution halted, would have knocked the ADC’s presidential candidate out of next year’s presidential race before time.

The Court of Appeal suspended the execution of the verdict on Tuesday on the grounds that the trial judge delivered it in violation its earlier order of stay of proceedings.

The trial judge, Peter Lifu, ordered the parties’ deregistration for alllegedly falling short of constitutional performance thresholds in the previous election cycles to maintain their registration status.

Mr Lifu ordered INEC on Monday to deregister the ADC, Accord, Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

The judgement followed a suit filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators against INEC and the affected political parties.

The plaintiff argued that the parties no longer met the constitutional requirements for continued registration under Section 225 (a) of the Nigerian constitution and asked the court to compel INEC to remove them from its register.

Mr Lifu agreed with the plaintiff and ordered INEC to withdraw recognition from the parties and stop accepting nominations from them for future elections.

INEC, which opposed the suit during the trial court’s hearing, approached the Court of Appeal on Tuesday for a stay of execution of the judgement.

During proceedings on Tuesday, INEC asked the appellate court to stay execution of the verdict in compliance with an earlier Court of Appeal order halting proceedings before the Federal High Court pending the determination of an appeal on the suit.

Lawyer to the ADC also urged the appellate court to intervene, arguing that the trial court proceeded with the judgment despite a subsisting order of the Court of Appeal.

In a ruling delivered by a three-member panel led by A. Muhammed, the Court of Appeal rebuked Mr Lifu for disregarding the Court of Appeal’s order of stay.

The appellate court subsequently suspended execution of the judgement pending the determination of the substantive appeal, which is scheduled for 25 June.