The Court of Appeal sitting at Abuja on Wednesday affirmed the power of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister political parties in the country.

Justice Mohammed Baba Idris in his ruling upheld an earlier decision by the Federal High Court in Abuja which held that INEC was right to deregister National Unity Party (NUP) which was one of the 74 parties deregistered by INEC

With the ruling, all pending appeals by other deregistered parties are now an academic exercise.

READ ALSO: INEC acted within its powers to de-register political parties, Court affirms 

It would be recalled that a Federal High Court in Abuja in May affirmed the power of the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister the NUP along with other political parties which failed to comply with the provisions of the law particularly Section 225 A of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Some of the parties include the Democratic Peoples Congress (DPC), Liberation Movement (LM), Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Nigeria Community Movement Party (NCMP) and United Peoples Congress (UPC)

Others are Hope Democratic Party (HDP)  Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and Reform and Advancement Party (RAP).

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