INEC to approach supreme court over judgement on deregistration of parties

The reporter| The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said it will approach the supreme court for a final judgement on whether it has the powers to deregister political parties.

The move followed the conflicting rulings by the appeal court on the power of INEC to derigister political parties.

Two weeks ago, the court had in the case of National Unity Party upheld and validated the power of INEC to deregister the parties but on Monday the court upheld the power of INEC to deregister parties in line with section 225 of the constitution, it equally held that INEC needed to prove that it complied with the procedure outlined.

In a statement issued by Festus Okoye, its spokesman, the commission said it will seek the verdict of the supreme court on the two conflicting judgements.

Okoye said, “The Commission is faced with two conflicting judgements from the Court of Appeal; one affirming the powers of the Commission to deregister political parties and the other setting aside the deregistration of ACD & 22 others.”

“Faced with two conflicting judgements from the same Court, the Commission is not in a position to pick and choose which one of them to obey.

“Consequently, the Commission will approach the Supreme Court for a final resolution of the issues raised in the two conflicting judgements.”

INEC further said it is focused on preparations for the conduct of the Edo and Ondo governorship elections scheduled to hold on September 19 and October 10 respectively but there are concerns the elections maybe threatened as the 22 deregistered political parties were not allowed to take part in the election.