The decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister Reverend Chris Okotie’s Fresh Democratic Party (FDP) has been voided by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
Delivering the judgement, Justice Gabriel Kolawole held that INEC acted unconstitutionally by exercising its powers to deregister the party without offering fair hearing to the party, in line with the provision of the Constitution.
The judge also voided the provision of Section 78(7) (ii) of the Electoral Act 2011, which allows INEC to deregister any party that did not win either National Assembly or State Assembly seat, saying it is inconsistent with the provision of the Constitution.
FDP had filed the suit, challenging INEC’s deregistration last year, as one of 28 others proscribed at the same time.
According to Justice Kolawole, the powers to deregister parties, granted to INEC in Section 78(7)(ii) of the Electoral Act, assumes quasi-judicial nature when it comes to deregistering parties and must not be exercised without giving the party to be deregistered a fair hearing.
