Court Orders INEC to Register Grassroot Initiative Party

On Thursday, a Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Binta Nyako, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow the Grassroot Initiative Party (GIP) to complete its registration process. The court found that INEC acted contrary to its own regulations when it closed the registration portal just three days after issuing access codes to applicants.

Justice Nyako directed INEC to grant the GIP access to its registration portal for a period of 27 days starting from March 26, 2025. The judge dismissed INEC's argument that the suit was incompetent due to a statutory bar, stating that the commission failed to provide evidence of notifying applicants about the portal's closure.

The court also dismissed two separate suits filed by the Green Future Party and the Liberal People's Party against INEC, ruling that their applications did not meet constitutional requirements for party registration.