A Nigerian high court judge on Monday ordered the national election commission to decertify five opposition political parties, including the leading challenger to President Bola Tinubu, the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The move will leave ballots looking considerably less crowded when the next election is held in January.
ADC immediately rejected the order by Judge Peter Lifu, calling it a “direct invitation to anarchy.”
“We actually don’t think it’s legal. What is unfolding is political. The courts is just the vehicle for promoting the political agenda. Everything is politics. What is at stake is not just the politics of African Democratic Congress, it’s also about the sanity of the judicial institution,” ADC spokesman Bolaji Abdullahi said.
“We have no doubt in our mind that it’s a panicky measure taken in reaction to our announcement that Right Honorable Rotimi Amaechi will be the running mate. So, to kill the momentum of that story, they had to come up with this,” he charged.
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is a former state governor and transportation minister who was announced as ADC’s vice presidential candidate on Monday, joining presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
Abubakar is a businessman who previously served as vice president from 1999 to 2007. He has run for several offices since then, and says his 2027 presidential race will be his last election. Amaechi was the runner-up in the party primary.
ADC described the alliance of Abubakar and Amaechi as a “unity and rescue ticket” that combines the strengths of “two tested statesmen” who also happen to enjoy political influence in different parts of Nigeria, giving the party a favorable electoral map in the general election.
“Together, Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi embody a truly national ticket — one that bridges regions, generations, and political traditions,” party spokesman Abdullahi said when announcing Amaechi’s addition to the ticket.
Judge Lifu’s order was prompted by complaints that the parties did not meet the minimum standards for certification. Under Nigerian law, a party must either hold one elected seat at any level of government or win at least 25 percent of the votes in one Nigerian state during a presidential election to avoid decertification.
Abubakar’s media aide Paul Ibe slammed the ruling as “judicial rascality” and an effort by incumbent President Bola Tinubu to cripple the opposition ahead of the next election.
“The so-called deregistration of the African Democratic Congress, along with other parties, by Justice Peter Lifu may yet be the biggest manifestation of Tinubu’s hell-bent bid to undermine the opposition and entrench a de facto one-party state,” he charged.
ADC national chairman David Mark denounced the judgment as “an arrow fired at the heart of Nigeria’s democracy.”
“The judgement cannot stand. It will be set aside because it does not pass the test of law and due process,” he said.
Ibe and Mark both reassured party supporters that the ADC will be on the ballot in January. “I assure all our candidates, members and supporters that this temporary setback will be overcome through the judicial process,” Mark said.
The INEC itself opposed the lawsuit that was brought to Lifu’s court, dismissing the plaintiffs as “busybodies” and arguing that no ruling should be handed down until pending appeals were resolved.
Lifu countered that the words in the relevant section of the Nigerian constitution are “plain, direct, express and simple and should be given their literal meaning.”
“Proliferation of political parties without any purposeful and intentional design to promote democratic ideals should be discouraged. Any tendency to pollute the political environment by exploiting uninformed members of the electorate must be frowned upon by the court,” he said.
Veteran Nigerian political activist Aisha Yesufu, who was involved in the #BringBackOurGirls movement to rescue the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadis in 2014, called the decertification ruling an “assault on democracy” and a “brazen attempt to strangle opposition.”
“Democracy is not a gift from those in power; it is a right we must defend every single day. I stand with every Nigerian who believes in choice, in competition of ideas, and in a future where no one can simply deregister the opposition out of existence,” she said.
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja stepped in with a stay of Justice Lifu’s order, pending the hearing of an appeal filed by the INEC and one of the banned parties, the Accord Party.
Abubakar welcomed the stay, warning that “the judiciary itself is not on trial.”
“Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice,” the ADC presidential candidate said.