The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Thursday announced the deregistration of 74 out of the 92 registered political parties in the country.
The decision was conveyed by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at a press conference in Abuja.
According to the INEC chairman, the political parties allowed to operate in Nigeria are the Accord Party, the Action Alliance, African Action Congress, African Democratic Congress, All Progressives Congress, All Progressives Grand Alliance, Allied Peoples Movement, Labour Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party, National Rescue November, Peoples Democratic Party, Peoples Redemption Party, Social Democratic Party, Young Progressives Party and Zenith Labour Party.
The rest, he said, ceases to be regarded as a registered political party in Nigeria.
Giving justification for INEC’s action, Prof. Yakubu said that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) under the fourth alterations vests in INEC the power to register and regulate the activities of political parties on the following grounds. “Breach of any of the requirements for registration as a political party.
“Failure to win at least 25% of the votes cast in one State of the Federation in a Presidential election or 25% of the votes cast in one Local Government Area of a State in a Governorship election.
“Failure to win at least one ward in a Chairmanship election, one seat in the National or State Assembly election or one seat in a Councillorship election”.
He said that in 2018, the Constitution was amended. and in addition to the extant provision for the registration of political parties, the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution (Section 225A) empowers the Commission to deregister political parties.
Prior to the Fourth Alteration, the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), he said that constitution had provided for the deregistration of political parties and based on this provision, the Commission, between 2011 and 2013, deregistered 39 political parties.
However, he said several of the parties challenged the power of INEC to deregister them, particularly on the grounds that the Electoral Act was inferior to the Constitution and that deregistration infringed their fundamental rights under the same Constitution.
Subsequently, he said that the courts ordered the Commission to reinstate the parties and that it was for this reason that the National Assembly amended the Constitution to empower the Commission to deregister political parties on the following above grounds.
According to the INEC chairman, in order to implement the provision of the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution, the Commission carried out an assessment of political parties to determine compliance with the requirements for their registration.
He said that similarly, following the conclusion of the 2019 general election, including court-ordered re-run elections arising from litigations, the Commission was able to determine the performance of political parties in the elections. In addition, they were also assessed on the basis of their performance in the Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which coincided with the 2019 general election. It should be noted that the FCT is the only part of the country where INEC is empowered by the Constitution to conduct Local Government elections.
Consequently, he said that the Commission had determined that sixteen (16) political parties have fulfilled the requirements for existence based on Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as follows:
S/No. NAME OF PARTY
- Accord Party A
- Action Alliance AA
- African Action Congress AAC
- African Democratic Congress ADC
- African Democratic Party ADP
- All Progressives Congress APC
- All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA
- Allied Peoples Movement APM
- Labour Party LP
- New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP
- National Rescue Movement NRM
- Peoples Democratic Party PDP
- Peoples Redemption Party PRP
- Social Democratic Party SDP
- Young Progressive Party YPP
- Zenith Labour Party ZLP
He said that Seventy-five (75) political parties did not satisfy the requirements of the Fourth Alteration to the Constitution.
However, he explained that one of the political parties, the Action Peoples Party (APP), filed a suit in court and obtained an order restraining the Commission from deregistering it. Consequently, the party remains registered pending the determination of the case by the court.
“The new political party, Boot Party (BP), registered by court order after the 2019 general election will also continue to exist.
“Accordingly, seventy-four (74) political parties are hereby deregistered. With this development, Nigeria now has eighteen (18) registered political parties. The list of the parties will be shared with you at this briefing and will also be available on our website and social media platforms shortly”, the INEC chairman explained. .
The de registered political parties as released by INEC are:
LIST OF DE-REGISTERED POLITICAL PARTIES
S/NO. NAME OF PARTY
- ADVANCED ALLIED PARTY AAP
- ALL BLENDING PARTY ABP
- ADVANCED CONGRESS OF DEMOCRATS ACD
- ALLIED CONGRESS PARTY OF NIGERIA ACPN
- ALLIANCE FOR DEMOCRACY AD
- ALL GRASSROOTS ALLIANCE AGA
- ALL GRAND ALLIANCE PARTY AGAP
- ADVANCED NIGERIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY ANDP
- ALLIANCE FOR NEW NIGERIA ANN
- ALLIANCE NATIONAL PARTY ANP
- ABUNDANT NIGERIA RENEWAL PARTY ANRP
- AFRICAN PEOPLES ALLIANCE APA
- ADVANCED PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE APDA
- ALTERNATIVE PARTY OF NIGERIA APN
- ALLIANCE OF SOCIAL DEMOCRATS ASD
- ALLIANCE FOR A UNITED NIGERIA AUN
- BETTER NIGERIA PROGRESSIVE PARTY BNPP
- CHANGE ADVOCACY PARTY CAP
- COALITION FOR CHANGE C4C
- CHANGE NIGERIA PARTY CNP
- CONGRESS OF PATRIOTS COP
- DEMOCRATIC ALTERNATIVE DA
- DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES CONGRESS DPC
- DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES PARTY DPP
- FRESH DEMOCRATIC PARTY FRESH
- FREEDOM AND JUSTICE PARTY FJP
- GRASSROOTS DEVELOPMENT PARTY OF NIGERIA DPN
- GREEN PARTY OF NIGERIA GPN
- HOPE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HDP
- INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATS ID
- JUSTICE MUST PREVAIL PARTY JMPP
- KOWA PARTY KP
- LIBERATION MOVEMENT LM
- LEGACY PARTY OF NIGERIA LPN
- MASS ACTION JOINT ALLIANCE MAJA
- MODERN DEMOCRATIC PARTY MDP
- MASSES MOVEMENT OF NIGERIA MMN
- MEGA PARTY OF NIGERIA MPN
- MOVEMENT FOR THE RESTORATION AND DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY MRDD
- NATIONAL ACTION COUNCIL NAC
- NIGERIA COMMUNITY MOVEMENT PARTY NCMP
- NATIONAL CONSCIENCE PARTY NCP
- NIGERIA DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS PARTY NDCP
- NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC LIBERTY PARTY NDLP
- NIGERIA ELEMENTS PROGRESSIVE PARTY NEPP
- NIGERIA FOR DEMOCRACY NFD
- NEW GENERATION PARTY OF NIGERIA NGP
- NATIONAL INTEREST PARTY NIP
