Court Orders INEC To Register New Party — Fresh Political Shake-Up Looms

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has directed Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to permit the Grassroot Initiative Party (GRIP) to proceed with its registration as a political party, following a dispute over access to the commission’s online portal.

According to credible reports, the ruling was delivered on Thursday by Binta Nyako, who ordered INEC to reopen its registration portal for a period of 27 days beginning March 26, allowing the applicants to complete the process.

The court held that INEC violated its own Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties, 2022, after shutting down the portal just three days after issuing an access code intended to remain valid for 30 days. Justice Nyako stated that the premature closure deprived the applicants of the full window stipulated in the commission’s guidelines.

In her ruling, the judge emphasized that the electoral body failed to justify its action, noting that no evidence was presented to show that the applicants were formally notified about the portal’s closure. She ruled that this omission significantly weakened INEC’s defence, further dismissing the commission’s argument that the case was statute-barred for not being filed within 14 days.

The suit was instituted by representatives of GRIP, including Nze Kanayo Chukwumezie and Mohammed Abas Kuti, through their counsel Jideofor Ukachukwu. Filed in December 2025, the applicants challenged the legality of INEC’s decision to close the portal before the expiration of the 30-day period, despite the payment of a ₦2 million administrative fee. They argued that they still had 27 days remaining to upload the required documents at the time the portal was shut.

However, the court declined reliefs sought in separate suits filed by the Green Future Party (GFP) and the Liberation People’s Party (LPP). In the GFP case, the court ruled that the applicants failed to satisfy constitutional requirements for party registration. In the LPP matter, although the court acknowledged that the party’s access code was still valid at the time of the portal’s closure, it held that the party weakened its own case and was therefore not entitled to the reliefs sought.