By Eunice Orike
Senator Victor Umeh, representing Anambra Central, has alleged that the recent court ruling delivered on June 26 by Justice Inyang Ekwo against the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) was deliberately targeted at stopping the party from participating in the 2027 general elections.
Umeh argued that the same Federal High Court had earlier, on December 10, 2025, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the NDC, a judgment that INEC complied with and never appealed. He maintained that the ruling had already taken effect and produced legal consequences, making the latest decision unjustifiable.
“The NDC exists because of that order. INEC obeyed it, complied with it and did not appeal against it,” Umeh said, questioning why the matter was revisited months after the party had been registered. He alleged that the ruling was aimed at preventing the NDC from contesting in 2027.
The senator dismissed claims that the NDC’s victory sign belonged to the Peace Movement Party (PMP), insisting that party symbols only become exclusive after INEC registration. He further argued that Justice Ekwo had already resolved the issue in the 2025 judgment and that the court had become functus officio, lacking authority to review its own final decision.
Describing the ruling as a miscarriage of justice, Umeh said any party dissatisfied with the earlier judgment should have approached the Court of Appeal, not returned to the same court. He warned that the decision could cripple the NDC’s participation in the 2027 elections, noting that primaries had already been concluded nationwide.
According to him, the ruling effectively shuts the party out of the electoral process, leaving its candidates with little chance of moving to another platform. “The door has been shut, the only option left is substitution in another political party, but it is practically impossible for over a thousand candidates to move to another party and replace candidates who have already emerged,” he explained.
Umeh also referenced the reaction of the NDC presidential candidate, who described the judgment as unsustainable and harmful to Nigeria’s democratic process. He called on the Court of Appeal to overturn the ruling, insisting that it would be wrong for an organisation previously dismissed by the court to be used to challenge a legally registered party.
