The senator representing Anambra Central, and a chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Victor Umeh, has criticised the June 26 ruling of Justice Inyang Ekwo, arguing that the same court order that compelled the registration of the party by the INEC is now being used to frustrate its participation in the 2027 general elections.

“That order Justice Ekwo made has bored children, it has produced effects. INEC has obeyed it, complied with it, did not appeal against it, registered the party. Because if he hadn’t ordered INEC to register NDC, it wouldn’t have existed. So the NDC was a creation of the order of this justice, Inyang Ekwo.

“He delivered his judgment on the 10th of December, 2025. This is June 2026. Of what benefit is his order to PMP? Nothing. Except to disable the NDC from taking part in the election,” he alleged.

Umeh also dismissed claims that the party’s victory sign logo belonged to the Peace Mass Movement (PMP), arguing that the symbol is universally recognised and only becomes the exclusive property of a political party after it has been duly registered by INEC with that logo.

“The victory sign is a global sign. It doesn’t belong to anybody. It doesn’t belong to PMP. I listened to Chief Akpabio, the leader of the party yesterday. He mentioned people who have been using this, this logo. Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi used it. Awolowo used this.

“If your party is registered with that logo, it becomes your property. This association did not meet registration criteria in 2015. And after five years of an application, everything collapsed. They don’t own it. The logo does not belong to PMP because it does not exist as a political party. It’s only when you register this victory sign, and INEC registers you with it, nobody can use it again because it now belongs to you as a political party,” he explained.

Responding to arguments that the court could revisit the matter due to procedural defects, Senator Umeh maintained that Justice Ekwo had already addressed and dismissed the issue of PMP’s logo in his December 2025 judgment, insisting that the court had made a finding on the merits and was bound by its earlier position.

“He made the finding with PMP’s logo. If PMP’s logo was anything that would have prevented him from making an order that NDC should be registered, he has come to that finding. But he dismissed it. So he cannot use this finding—this is a finding on merit. So on this finding, he’s bound by it. He’s the one who said that this is a purported political association,” he maintained.

Identifying the strongest legal error in the ruling, Umeh described the decision as a “total miscarriage of justice”, arguing that there was no basis for the court to review its earlier judgment.

“Total miscarriage of justice. This one is the one important to me: that he himself made a finding during trial that the PMP was not a registered political party.

“INEC flagged this as a preliminary objection, that this logo is similar to that of PMP. This judge, in his considered judgment, dismissed it. So he was not misled by NDC in making the order. So the only thing that is available to any person who has anything against this judgment is to appeal against it. It’s not by asking him to review it. He has no power to review this judgment because the elements that would have entitled him to do so were absent: fraud, deceit, or lack of jurisdiction. But in this case, all these things he has now talked about—the PMP he has premised his ruling upon—by himself, he dismissed it in the judgment,” Umeh stated.

On the practical implications of Justice Ekwo’s recent ruling, Umeh rejected claims that NDC’s registration automatically lapsed, reiterating that the move was aimed at truncating the party’s participation in the 2027 elections following the defection of key political figures to the platform.

“I disagree because the judgment is—the ruling is resting on a wrong premise. They have been used to truncate the participation of NDC in this election,” he maintained.

Speaking on Peter Obi’s reaction to the court ruling, Umeh said the former presidential candidate viewed it as unsustainable and harmful to democracy.

“Peter Obi has given a measured reaction to this: that this is not sustainable, that this action of the Federal High Court in Abuja—in Lokoja—to do and undo is not sustainable. It creates confusion in the democracy we have,” he shared.

Addressing the implications for NDC’s presidential bid, Senator Umeh said the ruling had effectively shut the party out of the 2027 elections and left little room for its candidates to seek refuge on another platform.

“All primaries ended on the 30th of May. That is even why Nigerians will look at the action of this judge with a very great amount of seriousness, because it’s like you have been shut out completely. And his action has shut out the party completely. And that’s what we’re saying, that it cannot be.

“How does it affect all the parties? There are only two parties here: NDC and the purported PMP. Who is to lose from his order? It is only NDC.

“What I’m saying is that for the way it is today, it’s not about asking us where are we going again. The door has been shut, 30th of May, that’s when it ends. The only window that is open will be substitution in another political party. If somebody withdraws there, the question will be: will all the members of NDC—over a thousand candidates they nominated nationwide in Nigeria—will all of them now go into another party and ask all of them to step down so that all of them will be substituted into it? The answer is that it is impossible, practically impossible,” he stressed.

The Senator called for the ruling to be overturned on appeal, insisting that the court could not rely on an association it had previously dismissed to undermine a political party it had ordered INEC to register.

“The only justice of this matter will be to set aside this obnoxious, unsustainable ruling of Justice Inyang Ekwo, because it was done without prudence. We are in Nigeria, and everybody is entitled to protection of the law. So, both us in NDC are entitled to protection of the law of Nigeria. So, indulging someone who is not a legal entity, and using them to destroy a legal entity, the law will frown at it,” he said. (AriseNews TV)

Update news