Court adjourn hearing on political party’s Diaspora chapters to Oct. 22

A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed Oct. 22 for hearing of a suit seeking to nullify the Diaspora chapters of political parties.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are 1st and 2nd respondents in the suit, however the proof of service was not in the court records.

Justice James Omotosho fixed the date after counsel to the plaintiff sought an adjournment to enable them regularise their processes.

Justice Omotosho subsequently adjourned the matter to Oct. 22 for hearing of motion on notice seeking for interlocutory injunction and ordered that hearing notice be served on the APC.

The INEC recently declared that all diaspora chapters of Nigerian political parties were illegal, saying the law doesn’t support such party chapters.

The commission in an earlier statement explained that the Constitution and the Electoral Act negated such chapters, stressing that political parties registered in Nigeria were not permitted to have Diaspora chapters.

It sighted sections 221, 222, 223, and 225 of the Constitution and sections 82 (1), (2) and (3) of the Electoral Act, 2022 which render such chapters illegal, null and void.