The Federal High Court in Abuja has invalidated the timeline issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of primaries and the nomination of candidates, ahead of the 2027 general election.
The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Umar, also set aside the INEC’s May 10 deadline requiring political parties to submit a register and database of all their members as a condition for qualifying to participate in the general elections.
It held that the time frame the electoral umpire announced for political parties to conduct their primaries and to submit, withdraw, or replace the names and particulars of their candidates for the general elections “is inconsistent with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.”
The judgment followed a legal action brought by the Youth Party (YP) to compel INEC to comply with the Electoral Act 2026’s 120‑day pre‑election deadline for submitting party registers and candidates’ personal particulars.
Although the judgment was delivered on Wednesday, the Certified True Copy (CTC), which was made available on Thursday, showed that INEC was listed as the sole defendant in YP’s suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/517/2016.
The plaintiff had prayed the court to declare that upon a proper consideration and interpretation of the provisions of Sections 29, 82 and 84(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, the powers of the INEC to receive notice of party primaries and the personal particulars of candidates, and its duty to attend, observe and monitor such primaries, does not extend to fixing or prescribing the timetable within which political parties may conduct their primary elections for the purpose of nominating candidates for the 2027 general elections.
Justice Umar, while agreeing with the YP, declared that in view of the provisions of Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which requires political parties to submit the personal particulars of their candidates not later than 120 days before an election, “INEC cannot lawfully abridge or limit that statutory period by prescribing a shorter timeframe in its 2027 election timetable”.
Similarly, the court held that in line with Section 31 of the Electoral Act 2026, which permits political parties to withdraw and substitute candidates not later than 90 days before the conduct of an election, INEC lacks the powers to abridge or limit that statutory period by fixing an earlier deadline for the withdrawal and replacement of candidates in its 2027 election timetable.
INEC had directed political parties to submit their register of party members not later than 21 days before the holding of their respective primaries.
It had also fixed April 21, 2026, as the deadline.
It, however, extended the deadline for the submission of political parties’ membership registers for the 2027 general elections to May 10, 2026.
On May 15, INEC confirmed that all 22 registered political parties in Nigeria had submitted their membership registers in compliance with the Electoral Act 2026.
