The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has filed an appeal against a court ruling that reversed an earlier order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the NDC as a political party.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, on Friday, set aside its earlier judgement directing INEC to register NDC as a political party.

The ruling followed an application by the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which sought to have the December 2025 judgement set aside because it was not joined in the suit.

The judge, Isah Dashen, upheld the PMP application and ruled that all relevant parties must be heard before any substantive decision can be made in the matter.

The judge then declared that such an omission rendered the entire process null and void, and ruled that the status quo be restored to what it was before the December 2025 judgement, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

Appeal filed

In a post on his Facebook page on Monday night, the National Leader of the NDC, Seriake Dickson, said the party is also seeking a stay of execution of the ruling.

Mr Dickson, who is the NDC’s candidate for Bayelsa West District, announced that the court process has been served on the INEC chairman and his team “to do what is right according to law and what is legally sensible.”

“Having filed and served our appeal and the accompanying applications, the ball is now in the court of the judiciary, and we expect the judiciary to do what is right under the law,” he stated.

The national leader also confirmed that, following the appeal, INEC has granted the NDC access to upload the party’s candidates to its portal.

“We have been granted access to the (INEC) portal to upload our qualified candidates.

“My name and that of the presidential candidate (Peter Obi) have been uploaded to the INEC portal, while that of the vice presidential candidate will be done tomorrow (today) upon completion of the deposition. The process is also ongoing for other candidates,” he said.

Detail of the appeal

Mr Dickson did not provide details of the appeal, including the court in which it was filed.

However, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the NDC filed the appeal at the Court of Appeal in Lokoja, Kogi State.

It is unclear for now whether the Court of Appeal has set a hearing date for the appeal.

NDC goes to court after judge cancels its registration, but Peter Obi's name is now in INEC system

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