“The order is illegal and will not stand.” Senator Seriake Dickson wrote that on Friday, 26 June 2026, within hours of a Federal High Court ruling in Lokoja that knocked out the registration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress.
Justice Isah Dashen set aside the court’s own earlier judgment, from December 2025, that had forced the Independent National Electoral Commission to register the party. The application came from a group calling itself the Peace Movement Party, which said the logo the NDC registered with was its own. The effect, as Nairametrics put it, was to nullify the registration until a fresh hearing.
Obi and Dickson respond
Dickson called the ruling anti-democratic and “aimed at narrowing and stifling the democratic space”, and said all lovers of democracy would resist it. He told members and candidates to stay calm, and said lawyers had already been assembled. He also pointed at the applicant: it was not a registered party, and had not been among the associations seeking registration from INEC. “So we know where this is coming from,” he said.
Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate, called the judgment “another setback for our democracy and the institutions upon which our future depends”. He said it risked undermining public confidence and endangering the future of millions of Nigerians.
In its own statement the NDC said the Peace Movement Party was unknown to it and not a registered party. The party said INEC registered it on a court order and that it had since signed up members, held congresses from ward to national level, concluded primaries on INEC’s timetable and taken part in bye-elections in Nasarawa and Enugu states. It had already nominated candidates, from governor to the presidential ticket. The NDC insisted the ruling was not a deregistration and that its activities would go on.
Weekend meetings, Monday appeal
Leaders spent the weekend in marathon sessions. Punch reported that the meetings brought together Obi, his running mate Rabiu Kwankwaso, Dickson as national leader, the party’s National Working Committee, among other stakeholders, all working on a legal strategy before going to the Court of Appeal.
On Monday, 29 June, the party’s national publicity secretary, Osa Director, confirmed that a notice of appeal had been filed in Lokoja. “We are not in panic mode,” he told Punch. “The NDC is a registered party. This is still reflected on the portal of INEC.” He said the party would serve INEC soon, and that the case had only challenged the party’s logo, not its existence.
Sources
- Obi, Dickson condemn NDC deregistration, allege assault on multi-party democracy (Nairametrics)
- Deregistration crisis: NDC files appeal, moves to serve INEC (Punch)
- NDC Rejects Lokoja Court Ruling, Vows To Appeal Verdict (Independent)
