INEC’S ABSENCE LEADS TO ADJOURNMENT OF APP DEREGISTRATION CASE TO APRIL 16
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By: Fasasi Hammad
A Federal High Court in Owerri has adjourned the case seeking to bar the Action Peoples Party (APP) from participating in elections following its deregistration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The matter, initially scheduled to proceed, was postponed to April 16 after INEC failed to send a legal representative and APP’s lawyers requested additional time to prepare their defence.
Filed as Suit No: FHC/CS/03/2026 by Mr. Franklin Ngoforo, Coordinator of Civic Action for Democracy (CAC), the suit seeks the official delisting of APP as a political party.
Present in court were legal representatives from the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and members of various civil society organisations. At the start of proceedings, APP’s counsel requested a postponement to prepare their defence, while INEC was absent.
The presiding judge granted the adjournment, giving APP’s legal team approximately seven weeks to file their defence.
Constitutional lawyer Chinyere Obi noted that a defendant’s absence in court often signals either a lack of defence or tacit acceptance of the plaintiff’s claims. Barr. Chinedu Obasi of the Civil Liberties and Accountability Initiative described the proceedings as a key moment in Nigeria’s ongoing struggle with electoral integrity, adding that civil society groups would continue to pressure INEC to uphold the law.
Ngoforo’s suit contains 21 counts aimed at preventing APP from operating as a political party. He highlighted that the party was deregistered by INEC on February 6, 2020, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court in March 2022.
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