With the kind of incongruous decisions and “rascality” emanating from the courts in recent months, judicial analysts believe that an urgent intervention by the National Judicial Council has become imperative to prevent justice for sale, Davidson Iriekpen writes
Less than a week after the Court of Appeal lambasted Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja for ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister five opposition political parties, Justice Isah Dashen of the Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja has set aside its earlier judgment directing the same INEC to register the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as a political party, effectively nullifying all actions taken pursuant to the ruling.
In a dramatic U-turn, Justice Dashen, who delivered the ruling penultimate Friday, held that his December 10, 2025, judgment adversely affected the rights of the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which was not joined as a party in the suit despite claiming ownership of the logo relied upon in obtaining the judgment.
The judge held that the judgment did not take into consideration other parties in the suit and ordered that the commission withdraw the registration pending review of the judgment. He held that all relevant parties must be heard before any substantive decision can be made in the matter. He also observed that certain facts were suppressed in the earlier proceedings, which justified the decision to set aside the judgment.
