The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has hailed the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on the deadline for party primaries, news.ng reports.
Recall that earlier, Justice Mohammed Umar, who presided over the matter, ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has no constitutional powers to impose deadlines, as doing so conflicts with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
Also, the court nullified INEC’s May 10 deadline, compelling political parties to provide their membership registers and databases as part of the qualification process to participate in the elections.
The court ruled that INEC’s deadlines for political parties to conduct primaries and submit, replace, or withdraw candidates were not in sync with the timelines spelt out in the Electoral Act.
Meanwhile, the ADC, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated that the court’s ruling was a vindication of its stand on some key areas of INEC’s guidelines at the time they were issued.
While the party pointed out specific objections to the strict guidelines on membership registration,
The party stated, “The decision of the Court on these issues, including those that directly contradict the Constitution, is therefore a welcome vindication of our position.”
The party also commended the court for striking out the guideline that prevents politicians from leaving their party for another platform to contest an election.
The party added, “We believed at the time that that particular restriction was designed to prevent people from leaving the ruling party, APC. Now that the court has ruled against it, we are sure that, in the coming days, we will witness a mass exodus from the ruling party.”
