INEC, the country’s electoral watchdog, officially recognized the Youth Party (YP) on Thursday, making it the country’s nineteenth legal political party.
The decision was made at a meeting, according to a statement released by INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, on Thursday.
Remember that the Federal High Court’s ruling, issued on October 16, 2017, authorized the YP’s registration on August 16, 2018.
Although INEC had previously decided to deregister several parties in accordance with the country’s constitution, the Youth Party had gone to the Federal High Court and won an injunction preventing its deregistration.
The commission successfully overturned the Federal High Court’s judgment on appeal, and the party successfully overturned its deregistration in the Supreme Court.
Commission officials met with Youth Party representatives to discuss how the commission’s rules, the Electoral Act of 2022, and the constitution would all need to be interpreted in light of the court’s ruling.
As a result, the commission approved the party during its meeting and gave it all the rights and benefits that are normally given to political parties in Nigeria.