Appeal Court judgment: Evidence was concocted in deregistration suit – ADC

By Luminous Jannamike

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, on Tuesday hailed the Court of Appeal’s unanimous decision overturning the Federal High Court judgment ordering its deregistration, saying the appellate court found that trial judge, Justice Peter Lifu, had ‘concocted evidence’ in favour of the plaintiffs.

The ruling effectively ends, for now, the legal battle over the party’s existence, affirming that the ADC remains a duly recognised political party under the Constitution and the Electoral Act and freeing it to focus on its political activities instead of defending its survival in court.

The party made this known in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, who said the appellate court’s decision vindicated the ADC’s long-held position that the suit was legally flawed, unsupported by evidence and incapable of producing a valid judgment.

Abdullahi said: “The ADC also considers as extraordinary the finding by the Court of Appeal that Justice Peter Lifu concocted evidence in resolving the dispute in favour of the plaintiff.

“We believe this goes to the very heart of the integrity of the judiciary and the judicial process. We note that this is the second time in cases involving the ADC that Justice Peter Lifu would be coming under serious indictment by the superior court for wilful disobedience and judicial insubordination and impertinence. We therefore wonder whether such a roundly discredited judge should be allowed to sit on the bench even for a day longer.”

Beyond setting aside the lower court’s judgment in its entirety, the party said the appellate court held that the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to bring the suit, having failed to establish any personal legal interest beyond speculative claims that they had…