A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and lead counsel to the Accord Party, Musibau Adetunmbi, has described as unprecedented what he called a clash of judicial orders between a higher court and a lower court in the ongoing legal dispute over the alleged deregistration of political parties.
Adetunmbi made the remark on Tuesday, during interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun state, while reacting to a Federal High Court judgment in Abuja that has triggered fresh legal arguments and an ongoing appeal process.
“Throughout my over 25 year career, I’ve never seen such a situation where the higher court will give an order and the lower court will disobey it,” he said, expressing concern over what he described as an unusual procedural development in the case.
Recall that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove ADC, Accord Party, Action Alliance, Action Peoples Party and Zenith Labour Party from the register of political parties, citing their failure to secure at least 25 per cent of votes in previous elections.
The court also barred the affected parties from participating in future elections, including the 2027 general elections.
The judgment followed a suit filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators, which argued that the parties failed to meet the constitutional threshold required to remain registered.
The senior lawyer said the matter is still active before the Court of Appeal and warned that public commentary must remain restrained while judicial processes are ongoing.
“I would like to remind you and all our listeners that this matter is still at the Court of Appeal. It’s coming up 2 p.m. at the Court of Appeal today. So there is a limit to what we can discuss,” he noted.
Adetunmbi clarified that the ruling at the centre of the controversy did not, in his view, impose restrictions on political activities, but rather directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to begin steps toward deregistration.
“His lordship did not order those parties to stop campaign. His lordship ordered INEC to commence deregistration of those political parties and equally directed INEC not to receive any communication from them aside from making certain declarations that they did not meet registration requirements,” he explained.
He further argued that an earlier order from the Court of Appeal had instructed that judgment in the matter should not be delivered until the appeal was concluded.
“We have an express order before his lordship… the Court of Appeal had earlier ordered that his lordship should not deliver that judgment,” he said.
Adetunmbi added that he had not witnessed such a situation in over two decades of legal practice, where, according to him, procedural instructions between courts appeared to conflict.
Despite the tension, he maintained that the Accord Party remains committed to pursuing its case through legal channels.
“On the part of Accord, we are already at the Court of Appeal. We will see to the end of the matter within the ambit of the law,” he said.
He declined to speculate on the motivations behind the court’s decision, stressing that only the judiciary could clarify the reasoning.
Meanwhile, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke now faces a critical threat to his re-election bid following the court ruling. Adeleke, who recently defected to Accord to anchor his campaign for the upcoming August 15, 2026 governorship election, this judicial order effectively blocks his path to the ballot. Under current electoral guidelines, the window for candidate nomination has closed, meaning the Governor cannot switch to another political platform if the ruling stands.
