The National Leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has broken its silence following the controversial Abuja Federal High Court ruling ordering its deregistration, insisting that the party’s registration remains secure, legally unassailable, and impossible to revoke under current Nigerian laws.
In an official legislative brief released by Mallam Abdulhadi M. Adam, the Director-General of Media for ADC Voice Worldwide, the party declared that those celebrating the recent judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu are legally misinformed and completely ignored the strict constitutional safeguards built into Nigeria’s electoral framework.
The political battle centers on a public interest lawsuit (FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026) brought by the National Forum of Former Legislators, which asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enforce Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The plaintiffs argued that because the ADC failed to secure at least 25% of the total votes cast in any state of the federation during the 2023 presidential election, it automatically forfeited its status as a recognized political entity.
However, the ADC’s chief media director clarified that while it is a factual reality that the party did not cross the 25% presidential vote threshold in any state in 2023, Section 225A does not permit a single-clause deregistration.
According to the constitution, two distinct, concurrent conditions must be fully met before INEC has the legal authority to revoke a party’s registration:
- The Presidential Percentage Failure: Failing to win 25% of the votes cast in at least one state during a presidential election.
- The Zero-Seat Failure: Failing to win even a single legislative seat in any election across the country.
The ADC maintained that if an opposition party wins even one single seat in a State House of Assembly, the House of Representatives, or the Senate, INEC is constitutionally barred from deregistering it. Under Nigerian law, that single legislative victory immunizes the entire party structure for the duration of that political cycle—even if the elected lawmaker later decides to defect to another political platform.
“Perhaps those who filed this malicious case completely forgot about the 2023 legislative realities,” Mallam Adam stated. “The ADC did not just win a single seat; we won multiple competitive seats across both federal and state tiers of government.”
The party’s leadership pointed to specific federal lawmakers currently sitting in the 10th National Assembly who won their elections entirely under the ADC banner in 2023:
- Hon. Idris Salman, who won the highly contested House of Representatives seat for his federal constituency in Kogi State.
- Hon. Leke Joseph Abejide, who successfully won election and represents the Yagba East/Yagba West/Mopamuro Federal Constituency of Kogi State.
Beyond these two definitive seats in the Federal House of Representatives, the ADC also officially won three separate seats in State Houses of Assembly during the 2023 governorship and state assembly polls.
The ADC Media Directorate reaffirmed that because the party comfortably cleared the “Zero-Seat” hurdle, Justice Lifu’s directive to INEC rests on flawed legal premises that cannot survive superior judicial scrutiny at the Court of Appeal.
The legal clarification provides massive relief for the party’s high-profile 2027 structures, including its newly unveiled Atiku Abubakar and Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi presidential ticket, as well as grassroots legislative candidates like Architect Bashiru Lawal Aremu (BASH), who is actively contesting the Saki East/Saki West/Atisbo Federal Constituency seat under the ADC umbrella.
The party has urged its national members, campaign organizers, and the general electorate to remain completely calm, assuring them that legal teams have already initiated the necessary steps to set aside the high court order and maintain the party’s place on the 2027 ballot.
