The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), and three other political parties, prompting sharp criticism from Hon. Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere, the lawmaker representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency in Imo State. Ugochinyere accused President Bola Tinubu of inviting anarchy through the ruling, warning it could trigger political instability akin to past turbulent eras in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. He urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate the judgment, claiming prior judicial decisions and legal arguments were disregarded. The lawmaker also called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to safeguard judicial integrity, stressing that public trust in the justice system could be undermined if concerns over the ruling are not addressed. "This is a pure invitation to anarchy," Ugochinyere said. "The judiciary remains the last hope of the common man. If judgments of superior courts can be ignored, then we are endangering one of the most important institutions of our democracy." The court's decision has drawn backlash from opposition figures who view it as a threat to Nigeria's multi-party democracy.
A sitting president is not named in the court's judgment, yet the lawmaker directly implicates Bola Tinubu in a judicial ruling delivered by an independent body. The accusation that the deregistration invites anarchy rests on a claim that superior court judgments were ignored, though no such prior rulings are cited in the source. If the judiciary is the last hope of the common man, as the lawmaker asserts, then public condemnation of its decisions without concrete legal proof of irregularity risks undermining that very institution. The call for the NJC and NBA to act appears to seek external intervention in a judicial process, not defend it.
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