2027: Peter Obi Will Be on the Ballot Despite Court Blow, NDC Declares

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has insisted that its presidential candidate, Peter Obi and vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, will remain on the ballot for the 2027 general election despite Friday's Federal High Court ruling setting aside the judgment that led to the party's registration.

Addressing journalists at the party's national secretariat in Abuja, NDC National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas, said the court's decision neither deregistered the party nor invalidated the nominations of its candidates.

He announced that the party had already instructed its legal team to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.

"The court made no order directing the deregistration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress," Cleopas said.

He urged party members, supporters and candidates across the country to remain calm, assuring them that the legal challenge would be vigorously pursued.

According to Cleopas, the party remains a legally recognised political platform and will resist what he described as attempts to undermine its participation in Nigeria's democratic process.

The NDC chairman argued that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to revisit a matter on which it had already delivered a final judgment.

He maintained that the application which resulted in Friday's ruling was filed by the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which he described as an unregistered association that was neither a party to the original suit nor a recognised political party.

Cleopas disclosed that the party's lawyers would challenge both the jurisdiction of the court and the substance of the ruling before the appellate court.

Recalling the events leading to the party's registration, he said the NDC approached the Federal High Court after INEC declined to register it.

According to him, the court subsequently affirmed the party's constitutional right to freedom of association and ordered the electoral commission to register it as a political party.

Since then, he said, the NDC has carried out nationwide membership registration, conducted ward, local government, state and national congresses, organised its national convention and completed primary elections for all elective offices.

The party also participated in recent INEC-conducted by-elections in Nasarawa and Enugu states, Cleopas added.

He said the NDC had successfully nominated candidates for state Houses of Assembly, the House of Representatives, Senate, governorship, presidential and vice-presidential elections and was processing their formal submission to INEC in line with the electoral timetable.

The party chairman further argued that issues relating to the party's logo and symbol had already been determined in the earlier proceedings and noted that no appeal had been filed against that judgment.

Friday's ruling by the Federal High Court in Lokoja set aside its December 2025 judgment directing INEC to register the NDC after Justice Isah Dashen held that all interested parties had not been heard before the earlier decision was delivered.

The court ordered that the substantive case begin afresh with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Peace Movement Party (PMP) and the NDC joined as parties.

The latest statement adds to a series of reactions from the party's leadership following the ruling. Earlier, the NDC announced plans to challenge the judgment, its presidential candidate Peter Obi described the decision as "another setback for democracy," while the party's national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, said the NDC was "under attack" but would ultimately prevail.

Cleopas maintained that Friday's ruling does not affect the party's preparations for the 2027 general election and expressed confidence that the Court of Appeal would overturn the decision.