THE BEST EVIDENCE OF MEMBERSHIP OF A POLITICAL PARTY IS THE REGISTER OF MEMBERS

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THE BEST EVIDENCE OF MEMBERSHIP OF A POLITICAL PARTY IS THE REGISTER OF MEMBERS 


by Branham Chima. 

Subscribe: https://branhamchima.substack.com/embed 


✓ DEFINITION(S): 

• Membership of political party: refers to the status of being officially affiliated with and recognised as a member of a specific political organisation. 

• Register of members: is a formal record maintained by a political party that contains the names and details of individuals who are recognised as official members of the party. 


✓ NOTES: 

A political party is considered a legal entity with continuous existence and the ability to take legal action and be taken to court. Similar to a company or a body incorporated, a political party’s register of members is the most reliable evidence of its members. This is similar to the relevant register of members of a company which serves as the strongest legal proof of membership of a properly incorporated company, association, or partnership. 

In Yusuf Kabir v. APC, INEC, NNPP (CA/KN/EP/GOV/KAN/34/2023, 17TH DAY OF NOVEMBER 2023) the Court of Appeal acknowledged that the best way to show that a person is a member of a political party is his name being on the Register of members. Hear the Court thus per Adumein JCA: ‘The appellant relied on the case of Buhari v. Obasanjo (2005) 2 NWLR (Pt. 910) 241 at 500-501, where it was held that the register of members of a political party is not the only proof of who is a member of the party. It is true that it was so decided in that case. However, a political party qualifies as "a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in its corporate name" by virtue of section 77(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022. Being a body corporate, just as a company or body incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, its best evidence of its members is its register of members as mandated by section 77(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022; just as the relevant register of members of a Company under sections 105, 109, 110, and 111 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (as amended) constitutes the best legal evidence of membership of a duly incorporated company, association and partnership.’

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