A Federal High Court in Abuja is considering the legality of Nigerians in the diaspora operating chapters of registered political parties in their respective domains.
When the issue, which is being challenged by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), came up, Justice James Omotosho fixed October 22 for the hearing of a suit seeking to nullify the diaspora chapters of political parties.
INEC and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are the 1st and 2nd respondents in the suit; however, the proof of service was not in the court records.
Justice Omotosho fixed the date after the counsel to the plaintiff sought an adjournment to enable them to regularize their processes.
Justice Omotosho subsequently adjourned the matter to October 22 for the hearing of a motion on notice seeking an interlocutory injunction and ordered that a hearing notice be served on the APC.
The INEC recently declared that all diaspora chapters of Nigerian political parties were illegal, stating that the law does not support such chapters.
The commission, in an earlier statement, explained that the Constitution and the Electoral Act negated such chapters, stressing that political parties registered in Nigeria are not permitted to have diaspora chapters.
It cited sections 221, 222, 223, and 225 of the Constitution, as well as sections 82 (1), (2), and (3) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which render such chapters illegal, null, and void.