• HDP
• Hope Democratic Party
• INEC
• Relist

COURT ORDERS INEC TO RELIST HOPE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AS REGISTERED POLITICAL PARTY

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  CapitalTimesNews / 6 months
• 0
• 2 min read

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has received a certified true copy of a Federal High Court order mandating the relistment of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) as a registered political party in Nigeria. The court order, signed by Hon. Justice D.U. Okorowo, restrains INEC from further referring to HDP as “deregistered” or relying on judgments allegedly obtained through impersonation to obstruct the party’s operations. The order revalidated an earlier unappealed perpetual injunction in favour of the party, which INEC had previously complied with but later disregarded. INEC had cited the Fourth Alteration to the 1999 Constitution (Section 225A) as its justification for deregistering HDP. However, the court ruled that the amendment does not apply retroactively and cannot override a subsisting court order. Justice Okorowo stressed that INEC must respect the injunction and recognize HDP as the 20th registered political party in Nigeria, with full rights to resume operations. A formal letter from Owuru & Co., legal representatives of HDP, conveying the court order, was acknowledged by the office of the INEC Chairman on July 30, 2025. HDP founder, Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru, has reiterated his claim as the constitutional and unopposed winner of the 2019 presidential election. He argued that under Section 133 of the 1999 Constitution, his mandate remains valid after INEC’s unprecedented last-minute postponement of the polls, which he said left him as the only standing candidate. Owuru maintains that his subsisting mandate was usurped by the late President Muhammadu Buhari, who allegedly attempted to pass it on to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He further accused the Supreme Court of failing to hear his appeal after it was purportedly withdrawn fraudulently by an unknown impostor, denying him justice. The party has now approached the ECOWAS Court of Justice, seeking an interim restraining order against the Federal Government and President Tinubu, citing provocative sectional appointments, mismanagement of national intelligence and security assets, and unexplained foreign borrowings. In a statement, the party said, “We note with pride the re-emergence of the intelligential Hope Party that has helped in the guided development of our political ideology of Affric-communalism and welfarism, including the fourth Alterations to the constitution of Nigeria and politics of equal representation/interest.”