The Court of Appeal in Abuja has fixed July 7 for hearing an appeal challenging the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress, Accord Party and three other political parties.
The matter was moved from June 25 to allow all parties file and exchange their briefs ahead of the substantive hearing.
At Thursday’s proceedings, counsel for the Accord Party, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), told the three-member panel led by Justice Abubakar Mohammed that the record of appeal and the Federal High Court judgment were only recently obtained and transmitted to the appellate court.
He asked for a short adjournment to complete filing and exchange of processes, a request that was not opposed, prompting the court to fix July 7 for hearing.
The case follows a Federal High Court judgment by Justice Peter Lifu ordering INEC to deregister the parties over alleged failure to meet constitutional requirements for continued registration.
INEC has opposed the ruling, insisting the parties met legal thresholds and produced elected representatives in past elections.
Earlier, the Court of Appeal had granted a stay of execution, halting enforcement of the deregistration pending the determination of the appeal.
