₦airaland Forum

Ademola Adeleke, governor of Osun, says the judgement of the federal high court in Abuja which ordered the deregistration of Accord and four other political parties is a direct violation of a subsisting order of the court of appeal.

The federal high court Abuja court had on Monday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister Accord and four other political parties, including the African Democratic Congress (ADC), over their failure to achieve the required electoral performance in the 2023 general election and subsequent by-elections conducted by the commission.

The other affected parties are the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

Adeleke is seeking a second term on the platform of the Accord, with his campaign scheduled to officially begin on Tuesday ahead of the governorship poll slated for August 15.

In a statement issued by Olawale Rasheed, his spokesperson, the governor described the court judgement as an abuse of court process.

He said the appeal court had ordered a stay of proceedings at the federal high court in respect of the judgement that was eventually delivered.

Adeleke expressed surprise that the lower court proceeded to deliver a ruling on a matter already acted upon by the court of appeal.

“It is on record before Honourable Justice Peter Lifu J that in the record of proceedings of the Court of Appeal of 22nd May, 2026 and which was put before his Lordship as Exhibit MAC 2, the Court of Appeal specifically pronounced that ‘the delivery of the judgment is still part of the proceedings of the court’,” the statement reads.

The governor urged Osun residents to remain calm, noting that the court of appeal would hear the matter on Tuesday.

“Efforts to stop Osun people from exercising their voting rights will fail by the special grace of Almighty God. The Rule of Law and Humanity shall prevail at the end of the day,” Adeleke said.

“I call on Osun people to remain calm and be assured that our rights will be affirmed and our party, the Accord, will be on the ballot on August 15.”

“We will not only be on the ballot, we will overwhelmingly win the forthcoming governorship election. We should remain calm and forge ahead with mobilisation of our people.”

The governor reiterated that the flag-off of his re-election campaign would take place on Tuesday as scheduled, noting that he would not be distracted in the race.

“Our lawyers are taking all the necessary steps to right the wrong,” he added.

BACKGROUND

At the hearing, the plaintiff asked the court to determine whether INEC is constitutionally required to deregister political parties that fail to satisfy the performance thresholds stipulated in section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The group argued that the five parties had consistently failed to meet the conditions for retaining their registration, including securing at least 25 percent of votes in a state during a presidential election or winning elective positions at the national, state, or local government levels.

In his judgement, Peter Lifu, the presiding judge, upheld the plaintiff’s arguments and ordered INEC to deregister the five political parties.

seunmsg:
On what basis did the Appeal Court issue an order stopping the trial court from giving judgement in a case it has jurisdiction to hear? That in itself is an abuse of court process.

Kalashnikov49:
SW go suffer...

Una go suffer...

seunmsg:
I am from SW, Adeleke is from SW. Even this matter has absolutely nothing to do with anybody's ethnicity. But then, you're a Peter Obi supporter so you're not expected to see any public discussion beyond your bigoted prism.

seunmsg:
I am from SW, Adeleke is from SW. Even this matter has absolutely nothing to do with anybody's ethnicity. But then, you're a Peter Obi supporter so you're not expected to see any public discussion beyond your bigoted prism.

seunmsg:
On what basis did the Appeal Court issue an order stopping the trial court from giving judgement in a case it has jurisdiction to hear? That in itself is an abuse of court process. You cannot abuse the court process by trying to use the appeal court to stop the high court from performing its constitutional duties only to turn around and accuse the trial court of abuse of court process. That's wrong.

Whatever the case is, the High court has given judgement and the judgement remains valid until it is set aside by a superior court. Till then, Accord is no longer a recognized political party in Nigeria.

Ofunaofu:
Adeleke: Accord deregistration ruling violates appeal court order — we’ll be on the ballot



https://www.thecable.ng/adeleke-accord-deregistration-ruling-violates-appeal-court-order-well-be-on-the-ballot/

buhariguy:
I don't know why ndc is not included

seunmsg:
On what basis did the Appeal Court issue an order stopping the trial court from giving judgement in a case it has jurisdiction to hear? That in itself is an abuse of court process. You cannot abuse the court process by trying to use the appeal court to stop the high court from performing its constitutional duties only to turn around and accuse the trial court of abuse of court process. That's wrong.

Whatever the case is, the High court has given judgement and the judgement remains valid until it is set aside by a superior court. Till then, Accord is no longer a recognized political party in Nigeria.

He said the appeal court had ordered a stay of proceedings at the federal high court in respect of the judgement that was eventually delivered.

HallahGeisher:
I think the electoral acts also permits individual candidates. So even if Adeleke stands as an independent candidate, he will still win by landslide.

HallahGeisher:
I think the electoral acts also permits individual candidates. So even if Adeleke stands as an independent candidate, he will still win by landslide.