Court Ruling: NDC Heads to Appeal Court, Insists It Remains Registered

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has rejected the Federal High Court ruling that set aside an earlier judgment directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register it as a political party, insisting that it remains legally recognised.

The party announced on Saturday that it would immediately challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal, describing Friday’s judgment by the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, as legally unsustainable.

Addressing journalists at the NDC National Secretariat in Abuja, the party’s National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas, assured members and supporters that the latest court ruling neither deregistered the party nor affected its preparations for the 2027 general elections.

According to Cleopas, the judgment did not invalidate the nominations of the party’s candidates or extinguish its legal status as a registered political party.

He urged party members, coalition partners and supporters nationwide to remain calm and continue mobilising for future political activities while the legal process runs its course.

The NDC chairman maintained that the party’s legal team had already begun the process of filing an appeal against the ruling.

Describing the judgment as fundamentally flawed, Cleopas argued that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to reopen a matter on which it had previously delivered a final judgment.

He further questioned the legal standing of the Peace Movement Party (PMP), whose application resulted in Friday’s decision.

According to him, the PMP neither participated in the original proceedings nor currently enjoys recognition as a registered political party.

Cleopas described the organisation as an unregistered association that should not have been allowed to influence the outcome of the case.

He insisted that the NDC remained confident in the judicial process and believed the Court of Appeal would correct what he described as errors in the lower court’s ruling.

The latest development follows Friday’s decision by the Federal High Court in Lokoja, where Justice Isah Dashen nullified the earlier judgment compelling INEC to register the NDC.

The court held that the earlier decision affected the rights of the Peace Movement Party, which claimed ownership of the logo adopted by the NDC but was not joined in the original suit.

Despite the setback, the NDC leadership said the ruling was only a temporary legal challenge and reaffirmed its determination to continue its political activities while pursuing judicial redress through the appellate court.