A prominent lawyer and member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) legal team, Kalu Kalu, has described the Federal High Court ruling directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC and four other political parties as legally defective and unenforceable.
Speaking on Arise News, Kalu criticised the June 15 judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, arguing that it was issued despite an existing Court of Appeal order staying further proceedings in the matter.
According to him, decisions of the Court of Appeal are binding on lower courts, and Justice Lifu was duly informed of the appellate court’s directive before proceeding to deliver judgment.
“This is a very useless judgment. Very, very useless judgment. Even a university law student knows that once the Court of Appeal issues a ruling, a lower court is bound by it,” he said.
Kalu explained that the Court of Appeal had ordered a stay of proceedings at the Federal High Court, a development he said should have halted all actions in the case. He maintained that despite being served with the order and acknowledging it, Justice Lifu went ahead with the judgment.
Providing background to the dispute, Kalu alleged that the suit was initially filed in December last year by the National Forum of Former Legislators, which he claimed was not a juristic person capable of instituting legal action.
He further alleged that the plaintiff later amended the suit without obtaining the court’s permission by adding “Incorporated Trustees” to its name and introducing additional defendants, including the ADC, Accord Party and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
According to him, it was the subsequent approval of those amendments by Justice Lifu that prompted the appeal. He noted that while the appeal was pending, the Court of Appeal granted a stay of proceedings and directed the lower court to suspend further action on the case.
Kalu accused the trial judge of disregarding the appellate court’s order by proceeding with the matter despite the subsisting directive.
Recall that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday ordered INEC to deregister the ADC, Accord Party and several other political parties from participating in the 2027 general elections.
The suit, instituted by the National Forum of Former Legislators, sought the deregistration of the ADC and four other political parties.
