“Yes, we successfully filed the appeal today. We will serve INEC very soon. Our legal team was in Lokoja, Kogi State, today.”
That was Osa Director, national publicity secretary of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), speaking to DIP Connect Online News on Monday. The party’s lawyers had filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal in Lokoja, challenging a Federal High Court judgment that nullified its registration. Next comes service of the court papers on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Director rejected the idea that the NDC has been deregistered. “We are not in panic mode,” he said. “Our candidates have no reason to fear. The NDC remains a registered political party, and this is still reflected on INEC’s portal.” In his account, the case dealt only with the party’s logo. “The narrative being circulated is inaccurate. The case only challenged the use of our logo and not the existence of the party. That does not amount to deregistration.”
What the court did
The Federal High Court in Lokoja, presided over by Justice Isa H. Dashen, set aside its own earlier judgment directing INEC to register the NDC. The December 2025 registration order, the court held, infringed on the rights of the Peace Movement Party, which claims ownership of the logo the NDC uses.
INEC is expected to withdraw recognition. National Commissioner Mohammed Kudu Haruna said the commission is waiting for the Certified True Copy of the judgment before it takes definitive action. The NDC accepts that the ruling is a legal setback, but says it will fight it in the appellate court.
A weekend of meetings
Before the filing, the leadership spent the weekend behind closed doors. The meetings included presidential candidate Peter Obi, his running mate Rabiu Kwankwaso, national leader Seriake Dickson and members of the National Working Committee. A senior party official described them as marathon strategy sessions. They began barely 48 hours after the judgment.
National Secretary Ikenna Enekweizu called the Lokoja ruling unprecedented. “This is the worst thing that can happen in judiciary. That ruling has no legal basis,” he said. Opposition leaders have condemned the decision as an attempt to weaken challengers ahead of the 2027 general elections, and Enekweizu said the same. “We see it as part of the attempts by the powers that be to further shrink the democratic process in Nigeria.”
He would not name the lead lawyer ahead of the filing. The party’s National Legal Adviser, Reuben Egwuaba, was expected to play a key part.
The Nigeria Democratic Congress leaders also tried to calm their own candidates. Kwankwaso said “no temporary setback can weaken the spirit of a movement.” National Chairman Moses Cleopas called the ruling an attempt “to see whether we will shake,” and added: “There is no shaking because we are stronger.”
Dickson went on television to knock down talk that candidates were thinking of defecting. He told members their names would be uploaded to the INEC portal. The ruling, he said, was “intended to be a distraction. It’s intended to shake our faith.”
Sources
- Deregistration Crisis: NDC Appeals Court Judgment, Set to Serve INEC
- Peter Obi, Dickson, Others Meet Over NDC Deregistration
- NDC Holds Emergency Meetings, Adopts Fresh Strategy Over Court Deregistration
