Court dismisses suit challenging political parties’ exorbitant nomination fees

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed a suit filed by a human rights lawyer, Ejime Okolie, against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and 19 political parties.

Okolie had filed the case to challenge the alleged imposition of outrageous expression of interest (EoI) and nomination fees on card-carrying members vying for political offices by parties in the country.

The trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, in a judgment, dismissed the suit on the grounds that the issue raised by the lawyer falls strictly within the internal affairs of political parties and that the court would not interfere in such cases.

According to Justice Nyako, the fact that the fee charged by a political party is too high does not amount to a constitutional wrong. She observed that although all the parties in the suit were duly served with court documents, only a few of them responded.

She said a few of the respondents filed preliminary objections, challenging Okolie’s legal right to institute the case. She added that political parties have their own set rules and guidelines, even though the constitution gives everyone the right to associate.

She said a member is free to leave one party for another if he is dissatisfied with the way and manner a party conducts its affairs.

Justice Nyako, who appreciated Okolie’s efforts in instituting the suit, said the application failed.

Reacting to the judgment, the lawyer said he had taken it in good faith, noting that the court has the discretionary power to either grant or refuse his application.

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He said he would have loved to appeal against the decision, but there was no time because political activities had begun and his case might become academic at the Court of Appeal.

“My interest is for democracy and good governance, and I have done my best for my nation,” he said while speaking with newsmen after the judgment.

Also speaking, the National Legal Adviser of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Uche-Levis Abonyi, described the judgment as “sound.”

“I quite agree with my lord because this matter is exclusively within the affairs of political parties. INEC no longer funds political parties, and the only way a political party makes money is through the nomination and expression of interest forms.

“So, it is a matter within the internal affairs of political parties. If a member feels a party is very expensive and he cannot run under its platform, there are several other political parties under which he can contest. That is why it is democracy,” he said.

Okolie, who had sued for himself and on behalf of millions of Nigerian citizens desirous of participating in the electoral process, had prayed the court to stop political parties from imposing exorbitant fees in the sale of their expression of interest and nomination forms to aspirants vying for political offices.

He urged Justice Nyako to direct INEC to issue binding guidelines that would regulate reasonable maximum thresholds for the fees, as well as an order restraining the parties from fixing or enforcing any EoI or nomination fees for the primaries of the 2027 general elections that would exclude qualified Nigerian citizens from contesting in the polls.

Although there was no legal representation for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), among others, some of the other parties were represented.

Those represented in court include the African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), YPP, Accord (A), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Action People’s Party (APP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), INEC, and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

The respondents represented by A. I. Garba (ADC), Emmanuel Shodeinde (APGA), U. L. Abonyi (YPP), H. A. Adeleke (Accord), T. Enahoro (ZLP), Peter Abang (APP), G. S. Iwu (NRM), and Adams Bello (INEC) urged the court to dismiss the suit for lacking merit.

They also argued in their separate notices of preliminary objection that Okolie lacked locus standi (legal right) to file the suit and challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case, which borders on the internal affairs of political parties, among other grounds.

However, Olayinka Akanle, who appeared for the AGF, did not file any processes.

Okolie, in the fundamental rights suit, had urged the court to declare that the fixation, imposition, and enforcement of exorbitant fees for nomination forms by the parties prior to the 2023 general elections, as a condition to contest in the primaries, excluded many qualified Nigerian citizens, including himself, from the contest.

He said the act violated his fundamental right to freedom of association guaranteed under Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and urged the court to declare that the imposition of financial barriers, which disproportionately exclude ordinary Nigerian citizens from political participation, amounts to discrimination contrary to Section 42 of the Constitution.