Court orders INEC to give ADA access code for party registration

The Federal High Court in Abuja has told the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide an access code to the All Democratic Alliance (ADA). This will help the group move forward with its registration as a political party.

In a ruling on Monday, Judge Peter Lifu instructed INEC to create and share the access code within 72 hours with the party's protem secretary, Akin Ricketts.

The judge said INEC acted wrongly when it gave the access code to Umar Ardo. The court found that Ardo was not the protem national chairperson or the protem national secretary of ADA.

Judge Lifu declared INEC’s action “illegal, null and void.” He also told INEC to reopen its registration portal for one week. This will allow Mr Ricketts to upload the needed documents for the registration, like the party’s membership register.

Mr Ricketts, through his lawyer Stephen Atabo, took INEC and Mr Ardo to court over the access code dispute. He wanted the court to say that INEC did not give the access code to the right leaders of the association. This stopped them from uploading the required information for ADA’s registration.

He also pointed out that INEC broke the law by giving the access code to Mr Ardo, who he claimed was not recognized as a leader of the association.

Mr Ricketts asked the court to cancel all information Mr Ardo uploaded for ADA. He said those documents were different from what was in the original letter of intent that ADA gave to INEC.

He also wanted the court to tell INEC to give the access code to the recognized leaders, register ADA as a political party, and issue a certificate of registration.

Additionally, he asked the court to extend the deadlines of 10 May and 30 May for submitting the party’s digital membership register and candidates’ details to INEC.

After looking at the arguments, Judge Lifu agreed that Mr Ardo was not allowed to act for the association. The judge then canceled all actions taken by Mr Ardo regarding ADA’s registration.

Though Mr Ricketts asked for 96 hours for INEC to issue the access code, the court reduced it to 72 hours.

This ruling is the latest in an ongoing leadership struggle over ADA. This party is one of the political platforms that opposition figures are promoting ahead of the 2027 general elections.

PREMIUM TIMES reported last June that the coalition wanting to register ADA submitted its application to INEC. Mr Ricketts was listed as the protem national chairperson and Abdullahi Musa Elayo as the protem national secretary. Mr Ardo was part of the group wanting the party but did not sign the application.

According to INEC’s registration process, any group wanting to be recognized as a political party needs an access code. This code lets their authorized officials log into INEC’s portal to upload required documents like their constitution, manifesto, and membership register.

The current case started after INEC gave the access code to Mr Ardo instead of the recognized leaders of ADA. This led Mr Ricketts to challenge INEC’s decision in court.

This dispute follows an earlier legal challenge by Mr Ardo and other ADA promoters against INEC about the party’s registration. Last month, Judge Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court dismissed that suit. He ruled that it was started in the wrong way and that the issues could not be handled through an originating summons.