Obi, NDC condemn court ruling voiding party’s registration, vow to fight on

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has described a federal high court ruling that upended his party’s legal right to exist as another blow to Nigeria’s democracy.

Obi reacted to the ruling in a statement posted on Facebook and X on Friday. He said he learned of the Lokoja ruling while on official engagements in Imo state.

“It was at Madonna University that I received the court news of the Lokoja court rulings through my brother, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso,” Obi said in the statement.

The reaction followed a ruling by Isah Dashen, the judge at the federal high court in Lokoja, Kogi state, which set aside the court’s December 10, 2025 judgement that had compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the NDC as a political party.

Dashen held that the December judgement was reached without hearing all necessary parties, rendering the proceedings constitutionally defective. The ruling was triggered by an application from the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which argued it had a legal interest in the matter and should have been joined before judgment was delivered.

The NDC has rejected both the decision and its underlying logic.

Moses Cleopas, the party’s national chairman, said the NDC has instructed its lawyers to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal. He described the PMP as an unregistered association previously unknown to the party and questioned the procedural basis for its application being entertained at all.

Cleopas stressed that Friday’s order did not dissolve what it had already built. “There was no order directing our deregistration. We assure the general public, and particularly our candidates at all levels, that our party is on course,” Cleopas said. “The NDC has not been deregistered, and we are challenging today’s order at the Court of Appeal as soon as possible. We have no doubt that justice will be done.”

Obi’s statement went further, framing the ruling not merely as a legal setback for one party but as evidence of a coordinated effort to hollow out Nigeria’s democratic system ahead of the 2027 elections.

“Every Nigerian committed to the country’s progress should be deeply concerned. This judgment represents another setback for our democracy and the institutions upon which our future depends,” he said.

“It is regrettable that some who claim to champion democracy now appear determined to weaken the very institutions that sustain it. In doing so, they are undermining public confidence and endangering the future of millions of Nigerians.”

The NDC’s appeal filing is expected imminently. All nominations made on the party’s platform remain valid, it said, pending the outcome of that challenge.