A Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja has set aside its earlier judgment directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as a political party.

Delivering the ruling in suit No. FHC/LKJ/CS/49/2025, the presiding judge, Justice Isah Dashen, held that the court's judgment of December 10, 2025, was delivered without hearing all necessary parties.

This, he said, rendered the whole proceedings constitutionally defective.

The ruling followed an application filed by the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which argued that it had a legal interest in the matter and ought to have been joined as a party before judgment was delivered.

Justice Dashen agreed with the applicant, holding that the party had established sufficient legal interest to participate in the proceedings.

He ruled that its exclusion rendered the earlier proceedings null and void.

The judge further held that material facts were not disclosed during the initial hearing, making it necessary to vacate the previous order.

Consequently, the court restored the status quo that existed before the December 2025 judgment and directed that the substantive suit be heard afresh.

The court ordered that INEC, the PMP and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) be joined as parties in the fresh proceedings.

The earlier judgment had compelled INEC to register the NDC as a political party, despite the commission's position that the association was not among those that successfully completed its registration process.

On February 5, 2026, INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan, disclosed that only two out of eight associations seeking registration had qualified for final assessment and verification in compliance with the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

However, Amupitan noted that the NDC was eventually registered following the Federal High Court's December 2025 order in the case between Barrister Takori Mohammed Sanni and others against INEC.