By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside the decision of the Federal High Court Lokoja that deregistered the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) on 26th June, 2026.
In a majority 2-1 decision, the three man judicial panel held that INEC was right to have allowed NDC’s registration and use of the two fingers victory sign, as party logo.
In the majority decision of Justices Muhammad Danjuma and Muslim Sule Hassan, they held that a certain unregistered political association, Peace Movement Party, cannot use the trial court in Lokoja to stop NDC’s registration, as it had no locus standi.
In a dissenting judgement however, Justice Okon Abang held that the trial court was right to have set aside the NDC’s use of the two finger logo, because the PMP had applied earlier to use the said logo.
Describing NDC’s case as statute barred, the dissenting judgement allowed the Peace Movement Party’s cross appeal for not being afforded fair hearing in the suit,
and ordered ten million naira as costs in their favour.
