The Court of Appeal has overturned a Federal High Court judgment that ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister the African Democratic Congress and four other political parties, delivering a sharp rebuke of the trial judge’s conduct.
In a unanimous decision delivered on July 28, 2026, the appellate court nullified Justice Peter Lifu’s June 15 ruling, which directed INEC to deregister the ADC, Action Alliance, Action Peoples Party, Accord Party and Zenith Labour Party. Lifu had held that the parties failed to meet constitutional requirements for continued registration and barred INEC from recognising them or their candidates for the 2027 elections.
The Court of Appeal found the original suit incompetent because it was filed by the National Forum of Former Legislators, a body lacking legal capacity to sue. Justice Abba Mohammed, delivering the lead judgment, held that the trial court wrongly assumed jurisdiction, ignored evidence that the parties had won elective offices, and failed to evaluate the record properly. Critically, the appellate court said Lifu proceeded to judgment despite a subsisting Court of Appeal order staying proceedings. It described the conduct as “a form of judicial impertinence” amounting to “judicial rascality,” recalling Supreme Court warnings that a judge who deliberately disregards a superior court’s order is unfit for the bench.
The decision restored the five parties’ legal status as duly registered under the Constitution and the Electoral Act. It reaffirmed that lower courts must obey hierarchical orders and that no trial court may sidestep a superior court’s directive.
The ruling has drawn attention to a pattern of appellate courts correcting lower-court decisions in politically sensitive election-related cases. In 2024 the Supreme Court restored Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s election after the Court of Appeal sacked him over internal party matters it said lay outside its jurisdiction. The same day the apex court reinstated Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, setting aside concurrent tribunal and appeal decisions that deducted more than 165,000 votes on technical grounds, describing the lower courts’ approach as turning “the law and natural justice… upside down.”
Earlier landmarks include the Supreme Court’s 2007 intervention in Amaechi v. INEC, which installed Rotimi Amaechi as Rivers State governor after an unlawful party substitution, and its restoration of former Oyo State Governor Rashidi Ladoja following an unconstitutional impeachment process.
Lawyers and civil-society groups have welcomed the latest appellate decision while calling for stronger institutional response. Human-rights lawyer Idris Faro said a High Court judge is bound by Court of Appeal orders and that disobedience constitutes misconduct the National Judicial Council can sanction. Toluwa Odekhe stressed that a stay of proceedings leaves a trial judge no discretion to continue, and urged the NJC to treat such findings as disciplinary matters rather than mere appellate corrections. Patrick Onoja described the judgment as necessary to protect both the hierarchy of courts and democratic space under Section 40 of the Constitution.
Civil-society voices echoed the call for internal reform. The International Press Centre’s Lanre Arogundade said lasting change must come from within the judiciary itself, with judges demonstrating clear allegiance to the Constitution and electoral laws. CISLAC’s Auwal Rafsanjani welcomed the correction of legal error through the appellate process but said the circumstances should prompt broader institutional reflection to prevent avoidable inconsistencies that erode public confidence.
Observers note that the episode underscores recurring tensions between compressed election timelines and ordinary litigation schedules, and the need for consistent adherence to jurisdiction, evidence evaluation and judicial hierarchy in cases that can reshape the political field.
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