The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the All Democratic Alliance (ADA) as a political party and release its registration access code to the association’s leadership within 72 hours.
Justice Peter Lifu, who delivered the judgement, also directed INEC to reopen its registration portal for one week to enable the association to upload all statutory documents, including its membership register, required for its formal registration.
The court held that INEC acted unlawfully by releasing the association’s access code to Umar Ardo, whom it ruled was neither the Pro-tem National Chairman nor the Secretary of ADA.
Justice Lifu declared the commission’s action illegal, wrongful, null and void, and consequently invalidated every step taken by Ardo on behalf of the association.
The dispute stemmed from ADA’s application for registration as a political party. In October 2025, INEC announced that ADA was among 14 associations that had met the preliminary requirements for registration by successfully uploading the required information and documentation.
The commission subsequently cleared ADA and seven other associations to proceed to the next stage of the registration process.
However, the association, led by Akin Ricketts, approached the court after alleging that INEC wrongly issued its registration access code to Ardo, who it maintained had no legal authority to act on its behalf.
The plaintiff asked the court to compel INEC to issue the access code to its recognised leadership to enable it to complete the registration process.
It also sought declarations that INEC violated the law by issuing the access code to Ardo and that all information uploaded by him on the commission’s portal was unlawful because it differed from the details contained in ADA’s original letter of intent.
In addition, the association prayed the court to direct INEC to register ADA as a political party, issue it a certificate of registration, and extend the deadlines of 10 May 2026, for the submission of its digital membership register and 30 May 2026, for the submission of candidates.
Granting the reliefs, Justice Lifu ordered INEC to generate and release the access code to the association’s recognised leadership within 72 hours.
Although the plaintiff had requested 96 hours for the commission to comply, the court reduced the period to three days and directed that the portal remain open for one week to allow the association to complete the registration process in accordance with the law.