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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has cleared only two political associations — the African Alliance Party (AAP) and the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA) — to proceed to the final stage of political party registration, sources have told TheCable.
Surge in Applications
In June 2025, INEC announced that it had received 110 letters of intent from associations seeking registration as political parties. By early September 2025, the number of applications rose sharply to 171, following additional submissions.
On September 11, INEC granted provisional approval to 14 associations out of the 171 applicants.
Associations Granted Provisional Approval
The provisionally approved groups were:
- African Transformation Party (ATP)
- All Democratic Alliance (ADA)
- Advance Nigeria Congress (ANC)
- Abundance Social Party (ASP)
- African Alliance Party (AAP)
- Citizens Democratic Alliance (CDA)
- Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA)
- Grassroots Initiative Party (GRIP)
- Green Future Party (GFP)
- Liberation People’s Party (LPP)
- National Democratic Party (NDP)
- National Reform Party (NRP)
- Patriotic Peoples Alliance (PPA)
- Peoples Freedom Party (PFP)
Eight Shortlisted for Next Phase
In October, INEC further shortlisted eight associations — ADA, CDA, ASP, AAP, DLA, GFP, NDP, and PFP — for the next phase of the registration process, stating that they had complied with constitutional and statutory requirements.
INEC Disqualifies Six Over Compliance Issues
However, sources familiar with the process disclosed that only AAP and DLA have now been cleared to advance to the final stage, with INEC disqualifying the remaining six associations after its final assessment.
One of the affected associations shared a letter from INEC with TheCable, in which the commission cited issues with the group’s address as one of the reasons for rejecting its application.
The association disputed INEC’s claim, stating that it had formally notified the commission of its change of address, updated the information on INEC’s portal, and conducted subsequent correspondence using the new address.
“INEC officials also carried out physical verification at the new location without raising any objections at the time,” a source said.
Another member of a disqualified association alleged that INEC claimed it never received documents previously submitted.
“They said that all the documents our party submitted are not in their possession,” the source said.
