The Court of Appeal in Abuja has postponed hearings in the appeals filed by the African Democratic Congress, Accord and three other political parties against their deregistration, moving the date to July 14 after some parties were only served their reply briefs on the day the case was called.
A three member panel led by Justice Abba Mohammed had set July 7 for hearing after ordering all parties to file and exchange their court papers, but when the matter came up, it emerged that some parties had only received their briefs that same day, leaving them without adequate time to respond. Mohammed ruled the appeals were not yet ripe for hearing and adjourned to July 14, warning all sides to ensure processes are properly filed and exchanged before then. The underlying dispute traces back to a Federal High Court ruling ordering INEC to strike the affected parties from its official list and bar them from contesting the 2027 general election.
