NDC vows appeal, insists it has not been deregistered

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has rejected Friday’s Federal High Court ruling vacating the judgment that led to its registration, insisting the party remains legally recognised and announcing plans to immediately challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.

In a statement signed by National Chairman Senator Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, the NDC said it was “surprised” that Justice Isah Dashen granted standing to the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which it described as an unregistered association with no current stake in Nigeria’s political process.
The NDC recalled that its registration followed a December 2025 Federal High Court ruling that upheld the party’s constitutional right to freedom of association after INEC had refused to register it. Since then, the party said, it has fully participated in INEC’s electoral process — conducting membership registration, ward-to-national congresses, conventions, and primaries, and fielding candidates in the recent Nasarawa and Enugu by-elections.

It said nominations for House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, Governorship, and Presidential/Vice-Presidential candidates are currently being finalised for submission to INEC.
The party’s central objection is procedural: it argued that PMP is neither a registered political party nor a current applicant in the ongoing registration exercise, and that its claim rooted in a rejected 2015 bid to register using the “victory sign” symbol should not have given it standing to reopen a case it was never part of.
The NDC further argued that the original December 2025 court had already addressed objections from other associations over the same symbol and colours, and that since no appeal was filed against that judgment within the statutory window, any attempt to challenge it now is time-barred.

Citing the legal principle that a court becomes functus officio after delivering final judgment, the party contended that Justice Dashen lacked the jurisdiction to revisit the matter via a motion rather than a formal appeal.

“To now try to upturn that verdict through the back door, via a motion, is not only unheard-of, but also illegal and an outright abuse of court process,” the statement said.
The NDC emphasised that Friday’s ruling did not order its deregistration, and sought to reassure candidates and supporters that “all nominations made remain valid” and that the party’s platform “is strong and legal.”
It said its legal team has been instructed to proceed to the Court of Appeal “as soon as possible” to challenge what it called the “jurisdiction and propriety” of the ruling.
The party also framed the dispute in broader terms, accusing unnamed actors of attempting to “shrink the democratic space and stifle opposition voices” ahead of the 2027 general election, which it noted is already “midway” in process.