The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has appealed a Federal High Court ruling that overturned an earlier judgement directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the party.
A Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, on Friday set aside its December 2025 judgement that had ordered INEC to register the NDC as a political party.
The decision followed an application filed by the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which argued that it had not been joined as a party in the original suit despite having an interest in the matter.
Delivering the ruling, Justice Isah Dashen agreed with the PMP’s argument, holding that all relevant parties must be heard before any substantive decision can be made. The court found that the failure to join the PMP rendered the earlier proceedings defective and declared the entire process null and void.
Justice Dashen consequently restored the status quo that existed before the December 2025 judgement, pending the determination of the substantive suit.
In response, the NDC has filed an appeal challenging the ruling. In a Facebook post on Monday night, the party’s National Leader, Seriake Dickson, disclosed that it had also applied for a stay of execution of the judgement.
According to Mr Dickson, the appeal and accompanying applications have been served on the INEC Chairman and other relevant officials.
“Having filed and served our appeal and the accompanying applications, the ball is now in the court of the judiciary, and we expect the judiciary to do what is right under the law,” he said.
Mr Dickson also announced that INEC had granted the NDC access to its candidate nomination portal following the filing of the appeal.
“We have been granted access to the INEC portal to upload our qualified candidates. My name and that of the presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have been uploaded to the INEC portal, while that of the vice presidential candidate will be done tomorrow upon completion of the deposition. The process is also ongoing for other candidates,” he stated.
WesternLifeNewsNG understands that the suit was filed at the Court of Appeal in Lokoja, Kogi State. It however remains unclear if the court has fixed a date to hear the appeal.
