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The National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL) has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC), claiming the party has failed to meet the minimum constitutional requirements expected of political parties.
In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2025, Raphael Igbokwe, the forum’s national coordinator, filed the action and swore an affidavit stating that the ADC has not met the constitutional conditions needed to maintain its status as a political party.
Igbokwe said the ADC did not secure 25 per cent of votes in any state during the last presidential election.
The NFFL chairman added that the ADC also failed to win any seat in the August 2025 bye-elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), noting that this result fell short of the minimum legal threshold.
He urged the court to declare that the ADC has not met the requirements set out in the Constitution and the Electoral Act and should therefore be deregistered.
Section 225 empowers INEC to deregister any political party that breaches registration conditions or fails to satisfy the minimum electoral standards, including securing at least 25 per cent of votes in any state during a presidential election.
In February 2020, INEC deregistered 74 political parties for failing to meet the criteria outlined in Section 225(a) of the 1999 Constitution. The Supreme Court upheld this decision in March 2022.
“Our action has nothing to do with undermining multiparty democracy or promoting a one-party system. Nigeria has numerous political parties with national presence and representation. Opposition is not defined by mere existence, but by meeting constitutional and electoral standards,” he said.
“The matter before the court is purely legal: a political party must justify its continued registration by meeting the minimum requirements, as the Supreme Court confirmed in previous cases. Our role as a public interest group is to uphold the law, not to determine which party survives.
“If any party, whether the ADC or another, falls below the constitutional threshold, the law must apply. That is how democracy develops—by strengthening the rules rather than bending them.”
He added that the application is not about eliminating opposition but about protecting Nigerians from the proliferation of inactive political platforms that exist only in name and contribute nothing to governance, representation, or voter engagement.
In July, opposition politicians and some ADC figures adopted the party as the coalition platform for the 2027 elections.
Members of the coalition include former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; Uche Secondus, former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna; Peter Obi, Labour Party presidential candidate in 2023; Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transport; and Odigie Oyegun, former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Former Senate President David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, former minister of interior, and Bolaji Abdullahi, a former minister of sports, took up the roles of chairman, secretary and spokesperson of the ADC, respectively.
Last month, the ADC’s National Working Committee (NWC) expelled Leke Abejide, who represents the Yagba federal constituency in the House of Representatives, for opposing the adoption of the party as the coalition platform.
