“Our Party Was Not Deregistered” – NDC Opens Up on Court Judgement

The National Secretary of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Ikenna Enekweizu, has clarified that the party remains a legally recognized political association despite a recent courtroom setback.

His comments follow a ruling by the Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja on Friday, where Justice Isah Dashen set aside an earlier judgment from December 10, 2025, that had directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the NDC.

The judge held that the previous judgment unfairly affected the rights of the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which was not included in the original lawsuit even though it claimed ownership of the logo used by the NDC to get registered.

Appearing on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today, Enekweizu was asked by the host, Seun, if the party still considers itself legally recognized in Nigeria given the existential threat of the court ruling. The party scribe explained that setting aside a registration order is not the same as a formal deregistration order, assuring members that the party’s operations and its candidates for upcoming elections remain unaffected.

“Well, the ruling said the judgement earlier given by the court has been set aside,” Enekweizu said. “But the ruling, there was no part of that ruling where an order was made deregistering NDC. So as far as we are concerned, our party is still subsisting, has not been deregistered and will continue to operate as NDC and will continue to operate as normal.”

Enekweizu further revealed that the party’s legal team has already swung into action to challenge the new decision at the appellate court. He expressed confidence that the NDC will maintain its political status because it has successfully satisfied all the legal conditions necessary to function as an official party in the country.

“For now, what we have done is to commence the process of appealing the judgement,” the national secretary added. “As I talk to you, our team of lawyers at work trying to set aside what has been done today. But as I tell you, there are no issues about our candidates and their candidature in the elections. We believe that since no order was made, deregistering the party, we are still a political party and continue to remain so until any direct judgement of any court would say so.”

He also accused INEC of using a minor excuse regarding the party’s visual identity to block their initial recognition.

“We went to court because we had met the condition for registration, but INEC decided whimsically that they wouldn’t register us on the excuse that our logo resembles that of the APC,” Enekweizu stated.