(Federal High Court. Photo by Guardian Nigeria News)
A Federal High Court in Abuja has thrown out a lawsuit that sought to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the All Democratic Alliance (ADA) as a political party.
Justice Emeka Nwite, in his judgment delivered on Wednesday, declared the suit incompetent and unsupported by credible evidence.
The plaintiffs, led by Umar Ardo, had filed the suit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/2788/2025 against INEC, Chief Akin Ricketts, and Aminu Ahmed, requesting a court order compelling INEC to register ADA as a political party.
They also asked the court to declare ADA as having been automatically registered by operation of law under Section 75(4) of the Electoral Act, 2022, on the basis that INEC had allegedly failed to act within the legally stipulated timeframe.
However, the court upheld a preliminary objection raised by the second and third defendants, who argued that the suit was initiated through an incorrect legal procedure.
Justice Nwite agreed, ruling that the issues involved which included allegations of fraud and disputed facts were too contentious to be resolved through an originating summons.
He held that the proper approach would have been to commence the matter via a writ of summons, which would have allowed both parties to present oral evidence and subject witnesses to cross-examination. On this basis, the suit was struck out as procedurally incompetent.
Despite striking out the suit on procedural grounds, the judge went further to examine the substantive claims, noting that he was doing so on the assumption that his procedural ruling could be wrong.
On the merits, Justice Nwite found that the plaintiffs failed to establish with credible evidence their claim that Chief Ricketts had defected from ADA to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) before the suit was filed.
The plaintiffs had relied on online news publications from social media to support this claim.
The court, however, ruled that newspaper reports alone are insufficient to prove the truth of their contents, citing established legal authorities including Ojukwu v Yar’Adua and Fawehinmi v IGP.
The judge emphasised that a published report only confirms that a publication was made, not that its contents are factually accurate, adding that anyone can author or circulate a story without it bearing the weight of truth.
The court further noted the absence of concrete evidence such as membership records, a membership card, or proof of dues payment to substantiate the claim that Ricketts had formally joined the ADC.
Additionally, the court sided with INEC’s argument that the plaintiffs failed to meet the constitutional and electoral requirements for political party registration.
The judge pointed to inconsistencies between the names of interim national officers submitted to INEC and those listed in the association’s original letter of intent, noting that the plaintiffs offered no satisfactory explanation for the discrepancies.
Conclusively, Justice Nwite dismissed the suit in its entirety, holding that the plaintiffs’ case lacked merit and was not backed by credible evidence.
