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A journalist turned activist, Mr. Richard Akinnola, has applied to a Federal High Court in Abuja for an order de-registering two political parties: Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and Social Democratic Party (SDP).
He is asking the court to declare that it was illegal and unconstitutional for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the two parties already proscribed by law.
He asked the court to nullify the purported registration granted the two parties on account of having been proscribed and dissolved by existing an laws.
In the originating summon filed by Mr. James Ode Abah of Bamidele Aturu chambers, the plaintiff claimed that the UPN and SDP were outlawed by the Political Parties Dissolution Decrees of 1984 and 1993 respectively.
The pro-democracy activist among others, is asking the court to determine whether the INEC has power to resuscitate prohibited and dissolved parties without first repealing the laws that proscribed them.
He also wants the court to determine whether political parties dissolved or prohibited by an existing law from acting as political parties can function or act as parties without the repeal of the law that proscribed them.
Apart from INEC, he joined UPN and SDP as co-defendants.
He asked the court to declare that having been duly dissolved by virtue of existing laws of 1984 and 1993, the two parties were no longer political parties in the country and could not function as such.
He also applied for declaration that INEC could not validly or lawfully register the two parties in the face of the existing laws that legally dissolved them.
He also sought a court order compelling INEC to de-register the two parties and to restrain the commission from recognising or treating UPN and SDP as political parties in the country.
He equally applied for an order of perpetual injunction to stop the two parties, their agents, officers, servants and privies from acting, functioning or parading themselves as political parties in the country was also sought by the plaintiff.
In a 10-point affidavit in support of the suit, the plaintiff said he was a journalist of 32 years standing, human rights and pro-democracy activist, taxpayer and author of several books on law and the media.
He averred that he was not yet a member of any political party and that he had gone through the list of political parties registered by INEC and its website in order to make an informed decision on which party to join when ready to do so and found that UPN and SDP have been registered.
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