ADC Rejects Court Deregistration Order, Alleges Plot to Hand Tinubu Second Term without Contest
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected the Federal High Court’s order deregistering the party, alleging that the move is aimed at securing a second term for President Bola Tinubu without contest.
In his judgment, Justice Peter Lifu ordered the deregistration of ADC and four other political parties, including Accord, Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), for failing to secure 25 percent of the votes cast in the last general elections, in line with the provisions of the law.
Reacting to the development in a statement signed by the ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said that at a time when millions of Nigerians are struggling under crushing economic hardship, escalating insecurity, widespread unemployment, and growing national anxiety allegedly inflicted by the APC, it is deeply disturbing that powerful forces appear more interested in eliminating political opposition than confronting the real crises facing the country.
“From our standpoint, the issue before the country is no longer simply about party registration. It is about whether the Nigerian people will be allowed genuine political choices in 2027. It is about whether democracy will remain a contest decided by voters at the ballot box or by powerful interests operating through institutions that ought to remain impartial.
“Let it be clearly stated: the ADC will not stand by while the democratic rights of millions of Nigerians are threatened. We reject any and all attempts to intimidate, suppress, deregister, or politically extinguish our party and other opposition parties through means that offend both the spirit and the letter of the Constitution,” Abdullahi stated.
He argued that Nigeria is a nation governed by law, not by the whims and caprices of agents of the ruling party, and assured that, as a law-abiding political party, the ADC will vigorously challenge the judgment through every lawful and constitutional avenue available.
Abdullahi stressed that the ADC will mobilise all democratic stakeholders and defend the rights of its candidates, members, supporters, and the millions of Nigerians who look to the party as a credible alternative for national renewal.
“Make no mistake, this is another act of desperation by the ruling party and the government to hand President Tinubu a second term without contest. This will not work. We therefore warn those who are seeking to manufacture a civilian dictatorship to understand that democracy cannot be strangled without consequences for national stability,” he said.
He emphasised that the responsibility for any tension or crisis arising from efforts to weaponise the judiciary against legitimate political opposition will rest squarely with those pursuing what he described as a dangerous and illegitimate path.
Abdullahi further disclosed that the ADC will petition the National Judicial Council (NJC) over what it described as the judicial rascality demonstrated by the presiding judge of the Federal High Court, whose conduct, it claimed, has continued to bring the judiciary into disrepute.
He called on the party’s members, candidates, supporters, and coalition partners across the country to remain calm, vigilant, and steadfast, adding that, whatever it takes, the ADC will be on the ballot as long as the 2027 election holds.
