BY VINCENT UJUMADU

AWKA — A Federal High Court sitting in Awka, Wednesday, dismissed the suit filed by an Onitsha-based human rights activist and legal practitioner, Mr. Jezie Ekejiuba, against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Attorney General of the Federation over the deregistration of some political parties in the country for lack of merit.

Ekejiuba had in suit No.FHC/CS/620/2011 challenged the action of INEC, arguing that the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended, did not empower the electoral umpire to deregister political parties.

In dismissing the matter, however, the presiding judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, ruled that by the provisions of Section 153, sub-section (1) f (2), paragraphs 15 (b) and (i) of the Constitution and the provision of Section 78 (7) of the Electoral Act, 2010, INEC had powers to regulate the activities of political parties.

According to the judge, “paragraph 15 (b) of the constitution provides that the commission shall have power to register political parties in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, while paragraph 15(i) went further to provide that the commission shall carry out such other functions as may be conferred upon it by an Act of the National Assembly. ”

The plaintiff, Ekejiuba, who was in court, said he would appeal the judgment, arguing that the court conferred undue powers on INEC because carrying out such other functions did not mean the same thing as having the power to deregister political parties.

It would be recalled that Ekejiuba dragged INEC to court when it deregistered seven political parties on August 18, 2011 and as the matter was still pending in court, the Commission deregistered 28 more political parties on December 6, 2012.