Seriake Dicksonthe national leader of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), believes the party is under attack from foreign forces unhappy with its rapid rise but will overcome the challenge.
Dickson is reacting to a decision by a Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, which set aside an earlier order obliging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register NDC as a political party.
The court annulled its decision of December 10, 2025 INEC register the NDC as a political party.
The presiding judge, Isah Dashen, delivered the judgment in the lawsuit under the code FHC/LKJ/CS/49/2025, considering that the previous judgment was pronounced without hearing all the important parties, which makes the proceedings constitutionally invalid.
According to NAN, the ruling followed an application by the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which claimed it had a legal stake in the case and should have been involved in the litigation before the ruling.
The judge also found that important facts were not disclosed during the previous hearings and ordered that the substantive suit be reopened with INEC, PMP and NDC as parties.
‘ORDER WILL STAND’
Dickson condemned the court ruling as baseless and intended to prevent the party from moving forward.
“All I can say is that the order has no legal value and is intended to undermine the fundamental credibility and efforts of our party.” “The order is illegal and will not be valid,” he said.
According to him, the verdict was “against multi-party democracy, anti-democratic in nature, aimed at narrowing and suffocating the democratic space.”
The National Chairman of the NDC announced that the party had assembled a team of lawyers to challenge the judgment and asked members and supporters to remain calm.
The former Bayelsa governor claimed that the application that resulted in the judgment was filed by an “unregistered association” with no legal interest in the matter.
“We are not naive to expect that the enormous progress we have made in the last five months will pass without attack,” he stated.
“So we understand where this is coming from. It comes from people who are taken aback by the rapid progress of the NDC, the result of our hard work and commitment to the spread of multi-party democracy.
“We will not let anything slow us down or break our spirit. “The fight must go on.”
He also accused the judge who handed down the verdict of having made a legal error, stating that the party will seek all available court remedies.
“We will seek relevant court proceedings to address the judicial misconduct that occurred during the Honorable Judge Dashen’s tenure. “He clearly erred in law and we will take steps to correct that,” he stated.
Dickson also tried to console supporters, claiming the party was on the right track despite the defeat.
“We have been attacked and as I have repeatedly said, we must prepare for such crises. But after that we will win.” he said.
He further asserted that the judgment has strengthened support for the party, with “thousands of Nigerians” registering as members of the NDC in solidarity as a result of the court’s decision.
“I sincerely thank Nigerians for their continued confidence in the NDC. Dickson stated that “your support, encouragement and belief in our vision only strengthens our resolve to continue the struggle to deepen Nigeria’s multi-party democracy.”
