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Nigerian Court Orders De-Registration of ADC and NDC Opposition Parties
A court in June directed INEC to remove the African Democratic Congress and Nigeria Democratic Congress from the ballot. The parties, led by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, plan to appeal the rulings ahead of the January 2027 presidential vote.
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A Nigerian court in June ordered election organizer INEC to de-register the African Democratic Congress and the Nigeria Democratic Congress after suits filed by groups of former lawmakers. The ADC is led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the NDC by former state governor Peter Obi.
Both parties are viewed as the leading challengers to President Bola Tinubu in the January 2027 presidential elections.
The ADC was judged to have failed to meet the constitutional requirement of winning at least a quarter of votes in a previous election. The party argued it had not violated the requirement. Chidi Odinkalu stated there was evidence the ADC did meet the constitutional requirement.
Odinkalu also stated the NDC case involved defendants who should not have been on the case. Afolabi Adekaiyaoja stated that de-registering a party for failing to meet the elected office threshold should have been carried out after the 2023 election. The ADC described the de-registration cases as the move of a dictatorship.
Atiku has said any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. Obi, 64, said every Nigerian committed to the country’s progress should be deeply concerned about the INEC ruling that nullified his party’s status. More than 1.5 million people have newly registered to vote in Nigeria’s January 2027 elections.
About 93 million people registered to vote in the 2023 Nigerian presidential election, though just over a quarter cast ballots for the presidency. Nigeria recorded a 43% drop in per capita income despite economic reforms in the last three years. The political parties said they would appeal the decisions and stated the cases raise concerns about transparency and rule of law.
