Nigeria, June 29 -- The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue an access code to the leadership of the All Democratic Alliance (ADA), paving the way for the association to continue its registration as a political party.

In a judgement delivered on Monday, Judge Peter Lifu directed INEC to generate and release the access code within 72 hours to the party's protem secretary under the leadership of Akin Ricketts.

The judge held that the electoral commission acted unlawfully when it issued the access code to Umar Ardo, whom the court found was neither the protem national chairperson nor the protem national secretary of the association.

He consequently declared INEC's action "il...