INEC, presumably announced the deregistration of 74 out of the 91 political parties that participated in the last general election, leaving only 28, on the account that many was of the view that having over a hundred political parties makes the conduct of elections unwieldy.
Some of the affected political parties have vowed to challenge their deregistration in court, contending that it was illegal.
The PUNCH reports that according to the SAN, INEC has the constitutional right to delist any political party.
He pointed out Section 225A of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (with the First, Second, Third and Fourth Alterations), which states, “The Independent National Electoral Commission shall have power to de-register a political party for breach of any of the requirements for registration;
“Failure to win at least twenty-five percent of votes cast in one State of the Federation in a Presidential election or one Local Government of the State in a Governorship election;
“Failure to win at least one ward in the Chairmanship election, one seat in the National or State House of Assembly election or one seat in the Councillorship election.”
He said, “In deregistering the 74 political parties, INEC has relied on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No 9) Act, 2017 enacted on May 4, 2017, which amended section 222 of the 1999 Constitution. The amendment empowers INEC to de-register political parties that fail to win any seat in local and national elections.
“INEC must go the whole hog by complying with section 222 of the Constitution which states that political parties that fail to render accounts of their detailed annual statement and analysis of their sources of funds and other assets with similar statements of expenditure.
“INEC must apply the law with equal force to the remaining political parties.
“LG elections have not been held in 13 states. Since some of the political parties may still win LG elections the law is not ripe for implementation".
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