Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately open its portal to allow Grassroot Initiative Party (GRIP) complete its registration as a political party in the country.
The judge, in a judgment, ordered that the registration portal should be opened for GRIP to access the portal for 27 days beginning from March 26.
She held that the shutting of the INEC’s registration portal against GRIP, three days after it was given access code and before the stipulated 30-day period, was contrary to the commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties, 2022.
“I hereby order that the defendant (INEC) should open its portal for 27 days from today for the plaintiffs to complete its registration,” the judge ruled.
She also dismissed the commission’s argument that the plaintiffs’ suit was incompetent and statute barred, having not been filed within 14 days after the portal was shut.
The judge, however, held that INEC failed to place before the court material evidence to prove that it served the plaintiffs with any correspondence on the closure of its portal.
Justice Nyako, who said failure to activate the condition precedent of serving such correspondence on the plaintiffs was an error on INEC’s part, resolved the issue against the commission.
GRIP, through its officials, had sued INEC for allegedly shutting its registration portal three days after it was given access code to complete its registration within 30-day period.
