NDC Secretary Reacts to Court Judgment on Party Registration
The National Secretary of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Ikenna Enekweizu, has declared that the court judgment nullifying the party’s registration will not stand.
Speaking to ARISE Television, Enekweizu explained that the court had already determined that the Peace Movement Party (PMP) does not exist and was never among the organisations that applied to INEC for registration.
He stated, “In fact, we are not merely registered; the original substantive judgment of the court was that we are deemed to have been registered by INEC, deemed registered.”
“If you read the full judgment, a series of consequential orders were issued that made it appear as though we had been registered by INEC from the moment we applied.”
“INEC had a duty to register us but refused without justification after we satisfied all registration requirements. That refusal prompted us to go to court, and the court held that, during the hearing, INEC admitted the sole reason for refusing our registration was the similarity of our logo to that of the APC, not the Peace Movement Party.”
“The letter INEC sent us, which formed the basis of our lawsuit, claimed our logo resembled that of the All Progressives Congress (APC). That is why we approached the court, and at that stage there was no need to consider joining any other party besides INEC.”
“In truth, had we had any reason to align with another party at that point, it would have been the APC itself, because the grounds for refusing our registration were the APC‑like logo, not a non‑existent PMP.”
“It was only after we filed and served our originating summons that INEC, in its response, introduced the name PMP, claiming our logo looked like that of the Peace Movement Party. The law prohibits a party from both reprobating and approbating the same fact.”
“If INEC gave one reason for refusing to register the NDC — the reason we went to court over — and then abandoned that reason during the trial, admitting before the court that the original reason never existed, INEC effectively conceded to the judgment. Consequently, we never had a basis to join the PMP from the outset.”
“When INEC later raised the PMP as a new justification — a reason we were never previously told — our reply was straightforward. First, at the time we approached the court there were 18 registered political parties, and the PMP was not among them. Second, out of the 171 political associations that applied for registration, the PMP was not one of them.”
“Therefore, there was no legitimate ground for INEC to cite a non‑existent PMP as a reason to deny our registration. During the hearing, a judge asked whether INEC now admits our logo does not resemble that of the APC; INEC answered yes. The judge then asked if the PMP is a registered political party; INEC said no. Finally, the judge inquired whether the PMP was among the 171 applicants; INEC again answered no.”
“One must wonder: if the PMP had never been a registered entity during the registration process, how could our rights have been violated in the manner alleged?”
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