The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday affirmed the deregistration of 32 political parties, The PUNCH reports.

In her judgment, Justice Anwuli Chikere dismissed the suit filed by the parties against the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister them.

The judge held that the commission rightly deregistered the parties in line with the provision of section 225(a) of the Nigerian Constitution, The PUNCH reports.

The political parties were among the 74 that were deregistered by the INEC on February 6, 2020, on the grounds of poor performance at the 2019 general elections.

The parties had filed their suit last year to restrain INEC from carrying out the exercise when they got wind of the commission’s plan.

The judge had earlier on February 17, this year, issued an order restraining INEC from acting on the notice deregistering the 32 political parties, pending the determination of the suit.

But Thursday’s judgment by the court discharged the restraining order as it validated the commission’s action.

Some of the affected 32 political parties are Advanced Congress of Democrats, Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party, All Blending Party, All Grand Alliance Party, Better Nigeria Progressive Party, Democratic People’s Congress, Freedom and Justice Party, and Green Party of Nigeria.