The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the deregistration of 22 political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The 22 parties were among the 74 de-registered in 2020 by INEC following their poor performances in the 2019 general elections.
Justice Ejembi Eko of the apex court voided and set aside a judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, which had nullified the de-registration.
Justice Eko held that the Court Appeal on its own (suo motu) raised the issue of lack of fair hearing in favour of the 22 scrapped parties and arrived at a conclusion without hearing from other parties in the matter.
“This appeal by INEC is meritorious and is hereby allowed. The decision of the court below is set aside,” he ruled.
The apex court held that the Court of Appeal took out the issue of fair hearing out of the contemplations of the notice of appeal filed by the political parties but refused to do the needful in order to be fair to others in the matter.
