ABUJA — A fresh legal storm has hit Nigeria’s political space after a Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, set aside an earlier judgment that had compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as a political party.

The ruling, delivered on Friday, June 26, 2026, by Justice Isah Dashen, nullified the court’s December 10, 2025 judgment which had originally directed INEC to register the NDC. The judge held that the rights of the Peace Movement Party (PMP) were not properly considered in the earlier proceedings, despite the PMP’s claim to ownership of the logo the NDC had relied on to secure its registration. Having found that the PMP was wrongly excluded from the suit, the court ordered that all parties return to the positions they occupied before the December 2025 judgment and directed that the matter be heard afresh, this time with the PMP properly joined.

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Reacting to the development, INEC said it could not yet comment on the substance of the ruling, explaining that its legal department had not received the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment. In a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Adedayo Oketola, the commission said it was aware of the widespread reports trailing the judgment but would withhold its position until the CTC is obtained and reviewed. Oketola added that INEC would only take a position once its lawyers had studied the certified document, assuring that any decision taken would be lawful and in line with the court’s directives.

The NDC has firmly rejected the ruling. The party’s National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas, insisted that the judgment did not amount to a deregistration of the party, arguing that the trial court had become functus officio after delivering its final judgment in December 2025 and therefore lacked the power to revisit the matter. The party has since instructed its lawyers to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal, expressing confidence that the judgment would ultimately be overturned. In a statement issued via its official X handle, the NDC assured its candidates at all levels that the party remained on course and had not been deregistered.

The ruling has triggered strong reactions from opposition figures, including the NDC’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the party’s National Leader, Senator Henry Dickson, who described the judgment as a threat to Nigeria’s multiparty democracy. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also condemned the ruling as a setback for democracy, alleging that it fits into a broader pattern of moves to weaken opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections. Senior lawyer Femi Falana similarly criticised the decision, arguing that a court cannot lawfully reverse its own final judgment and that actions already taken under the earlier order — including the NDC’s primary elections — remain valid in law.

Newsworld Media Network notes that the controversy comes against the backdrop of a separate legal tussle in which an Abuja High Court had earlier ordered INEC to deregister several other parties, including the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Accord, Action Alliance (AA), All Progressives Party (APP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), over an alleged failure to meet constitutionally required vote spread thresholds — an order the Court of Appeal has since stayed pending appeal.

As things stand, INEC maintains it will take no formal position on the NDC’s status until its legal team receives and reviews the certified judgment.