ADC will appeal deregistration ruling — Bolaji Abdullahi

The opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) has assured loyalists and the voting public, stating that it has already initiated an appeal to overturn the ruling ordering the electoral body to deregister the party and four other political parties.

Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on Monday, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, declared that the party has been “birthed in adversity” and remains completely undeterred by the judgment.

“We will go to court to appeal this judicial rascality,” Abdullahi said.

“ADC will be on the ballot. If there’s going to be an election in 2027, ADC will contest election in 2027 in this country.”

The ADC spokesman accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Presidency of attempting to systematically eliminate all political opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections by engineering “bizarre” court judgments.

The allegation follows a Federal High Court ruling ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC and four other political parties for allegedly failing to meet constitutional performance thresholds during the last election cycle.

Reacting, Abdullahi claimed that the presiding judge, Justice Peter Lifu, was merely reading from a political script drafted by government agents to clear the field for the incumbent president.

The ADC insisted the judgment is the clearest manifestation of a clandestine agenda by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to establish a one-party state.

“The presiding judge was not just practicing law or dispensing justice. He was acting a script that was written for him by the agents of the ruling party… and the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Abdullahi stated during the broadcast.

“We’ve repeatedly maintained that what the ruling party wants is a situation whereby by the time we arrive in 2027, President Bola Tinubu is the only one who is able to contest election and every other person will have been eliminated.”

According to Abdullahi, the judgment constitutes a dangerous level of “judicial rascality” because it was delivered in direct defiance of an active Court of Appeal order.

He noted that the appellate court had explicitly directed all parties to stay proceedings on the matter until October 27.

“When a Court of Appeal says stay process until October 27… then you went ahead and delivered judgment on the same matter… it is actually bizarre and dangerous,” Abdullahi said, arguing that the judge acted in contempt of a higher court.

The suit, initiated by the National Forum of Former Legislators, successfully argued that the ADC violated Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution by failing to secure the mandatory 25 per cent of votes cast in at least one state or win required seats.

Abdullahi dismissed these claims, pointing out that the ADC currently holds at least two seats in the House of Representatives.

Furthermore, he revealed that INEC itself had previously submitted an affidavit to the Federal High Court affirming that the ADC has fully met all constitutional and electoral requirements for registration.

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The ADC spokesperson issued a stern warning to the administration, stating that those attempting to manipulate the judiciary to truncate democratic choices are “playing with fire.”

He emphasised that thousands of candidates nationwide who successfully emerged from the party’s recent direct primaries would not passively accept the ruling.

“What they are playing at is to generate the kind of crisis that Nigeria has not seen in a long time,” Abdullahi warned.

“Hundreds, if not thousands of people have obtained nomination forms and contested elections and emerged as the candidates on the platform of the African Democratic Congress. So, what do you expect? That they will roll over and die because of this kind of pronouncement?”

The legal turmoil arrives just as the ADC is preparing a major public rollout for its 2027 presidential ticket, which features former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi.

Abdullahi suggested that the sudden court judgment was directly triggered by panic within the ruling class over the formidable nature of the Atiku-Amaechi pairing.

“We believe that the emergence of Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi as our presidential and vice-presidential candidates actually gives us a formidable team that is immensely capable of winning this election,” Abdullahi maintained. “And we are not surprised with the kind of shenanigans that is cropping up the moment we announced Rotimi Amaechi.”

He also brushed aside criticisms from political figures like Babachir Lawal, who predicted disaster for the party, attributing such remarks to localised “historical animosity.”