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By Lizzy Chirkpi
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out an application for joinder filed by Sen. Clever Ikisikpo of ADC to stall the ongoing suit on deregistration of political parties.
This was predicated on the formal withdrawal of the application after counsel to the plaintiff drew the attention of the court to the fact that Sen. Clever Ikisikpo is not a registered member of the National Forum of Former Legislators.
The court also granted the application of the Accord Party to file a further counter-affidavit.
The court heard the application of the NFFL for amendment of their originating summons and deferred ruling to April 17, 2026.
The matter was subsequently adjourned to April 17, 2026, for rulings and further proceedings.
The suit, as earlier reported, seeks a judicial interpretation of Section 225A of the Fourth Alteration Act (2017) of the Nigerian Constitution, with the plaintiffs urging the court to compel INEC to apply the law uniformly.
Speaking to journalists after the court adjourned, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, National Forum of Former Legislators, Hon. Raphael Igbokwe, said he was satisfied with the proceedings.
“There are preliminary issues to declare motions and applications for the court, so that every party will be deemed to have filed their processes. A significant issue that also took place is that somebody was claiming to be our member; our record of members shows otherwise, and he brought in an application which we felt was only aimed at delaying the process.
“For us, the matter has been adjourned to April for rulings and for continuation of this matter. Like we said, our aim of instituting this suit is to enrich and expand the jurisprudence around electoral law.
“When we come to court, we seek the interpretation of certain sections of the law, especially Section 225A of the Constitution.”
Another member of the NFFL, Hon. Uzor Azubike, while speaking to journalists, also expressed optimism over the pace of the proceedings and the court’s disposition towards expediting the matter.
“We appreciate the proceedings today to the extent that the court appreciates the necessity to accelerate the hearing of this matter since time is of the essence. The court has, on its own, ordered an accelerated hearing to ensure that by the time the issues are sorted out, those who may need to look for an alternative platform will still have time within the electoral timetable to do so.
“I am very much satisfied that the court itself has reminded all parties that time is of the essence and that the matter must be disposed of within the timeframe that INEC has set out for parties to field candidates.”