A federal court in Abuja has dealt a severe blow to three major presidential candidates. Justice Peter Lifu ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister their parties on Monday.
Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress faces disqualification from the race. So does Gbenga Olawepo Hashim, who's running on the Accord Party platform.
Governor Ademola Adeleke's gubernatorial ambitions in Osun State also hang in the balance. He was the Accord Party's candidate for the August off-cycle elections.
The court identified five parties for deregistration. These are the ADC, Accord, Action Alliance, Action Peoples Party, and the Zenith Labour Party.
Justice Lifu ruled the parties violated Section 225 of Nigeria's constitution. That section empowers INEC to remove parties that won no elections previously.
The deregistration order requires parties to have secured at least one seat. This could be at federal, state, or local government level in the last election cycle.
The suit came from the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators. INEC and the Attorney-General of the Federation were named as respondents.
Plaintiffs argued these parties no longer met constitutional standards for existence. They relied on both the Constitution and the Electoral Act to support their case.
They wanted INEC to immediately remove the parties from its register. They also sought to bar them from all future elections.
Attorney-General Lateef Fagbemi sided with the plaintiffs in the dispute. His office backed the push for party deregistration.
ADC had just announced its vice presidential pick hours before the ruling. Rotimi Amaechi, a former Rivers State governor, got the nod as running mate.
The parties had tried stopping this case just months earlier. In May, they asked the court to pause all proceedings.
Their lawyers urged the judge to wait for an appeal decision. A related matter was already before the Court of Appeal, they noted.
Accord's lawyer Musibau Adetumbi made the strongest argument for delay. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he cited Supreme Court precedent against lower courts proceeding on matters pending appeal.
S.E. Aruwa represented the ADC in those May hearings.
Peter Abang appeared for Action Alliance and backed the suspension request.
All three lawyers wanted the trial court to step aside. But Justice Lifu went ahead and handed down his judgment anyway.
The case number is FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026. Court filings show it was filed well before Monday's decision.
Political analysts say the ruling creates uncertainty ahead of 2027 elections. Multiple major candidates now face potential removal from the ballot entirely.
The affected parties are likely to appeal the judgment. Their lawyers have vowed to pursue all available legal remedies.
