As NDC Warns Opposition Parties Against Celebrating Court Ruling on INEC Timetable
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is yet to receive a copy of the Federal High Court judgment that nullified key aspects of its revised timetable for the 2027 general elections, and cannot take a position on the ruling until the full judgment is studied even as political parties have produced sharply divided reactions, with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) calling it a vindication, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) describing it as a breather, and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) warning that the judgment is a “Greek Gift” capable of instigating explosions within opposition parties.
The reactions come as INEC also faces questions about the credibility of the APC presidential primary result, which produced 10,999,162 votes for President Bola Tinubu over 2.2 million more than he received in the 2023 general election nationwide and amid a viral video from the ward of Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu in Abia State showing a counter jumping from 1,015 to 7,400 in seconds while walking past a short queue of voters. INEC has not publicly commented on the viral counting video, and the APC presidential primary result stands as declared.
INEC: “We Are Still Waiting”
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune in a telephone interview, the INEC Deputy Director of Publicity, Wilfred Osilama Ifogah, indicated that it would take time before the commission could take a position on the judgment delivered by Justice M.G. Umar in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/517/2026.
“The commission is yet to receive a copy of the ruling. So, it is when they probably get it, you will now know what the commission will say about it. They can’t act until they get it. For now, we are still waiting for it,” Ifogah stated.
His position corroborated what INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, said in a separate interview on Friday, where she confirmed that the commission had not yet received the full judgment and would not comment until it had studied the ruling.
The commission’s cautious stance leaves open the critical question of whether INEC will appeal the judgment, revise its timetable to comply with the court’s orders, or seek a stay of execution while pursuing an appeal. Until INEC obtains and reviews the full judgment, the commission’s timetable remains technically in force — but the court’s ruling has already created a parallel legal reality that political parties are interpreting and responding to in divergent ways.
ADC: “A Vindication of Our Position”
The ADC, which has been the most vocal critic of INEC’s timetable guidelines and the most enthusiastic beneficiary of the court’s ruling, reiterated its welcome of the judgment but disclosed that it would not alter its own internal timetable despite the expanded windows now available.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, restated the party’s position that the ruling vindicated its long-held objection that INEC’s guidelines contradicted both the Electoral Act and the Constitution.
“We have said that we welcome the judgment and that it is a vindication of our position that the guidelines contradict the law and that it contradicts the Constitution. It now creates opportunities and allows more flexibility,” Abdullahi stated.
However, in a notable caveat, Abdullahi disclosed that the ADC was not likely to change its own schedule despite the ruling. “We are not likely to change our timetable because of that. Maybe that is a new perspective. We are not likely to change our timetable because of that,” he said.
The ADC maintained its earlier prediction of imminent defections from the APC: “We expect that there will be movement among parties in coming days,” Abdullahi added.
The ADC’s decision to maintain its existing timetable while celebrating the expanded flexibility for others suggests that the party is more interested in the judgment’s political implications specifically, the potential inflow of disaffected APC members than in using the extended window for its own internal processes.
PDP (Turaki Camp): “A Breather”
The Tanimu Turaki-led Interim National Working Committee (INWC) of the PDP welcomed the court judgment, framing it as an opportunity to deepen participation rather than a cause for alarm.
According to the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, the judgment had “beefed up the confidence of the PDP” to open up space for more members to purchase and submit forms and participate in the remaining phases of the electioneering process.
The Turaki camp went further than merely welcoming the ruling, using it as a platform to criticise both the Electoral Act 2026 and INEC’s implementation of it. The party argued that the Electoral Act itself was flawed in several respects by breaching the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and that INEC, in trying to apply the law, arrogated powers to itself that went beyond its constitutional bounds specifically by shortening the timeframe for the submission of party membership registers and the conduct of primaries.
“There are certain parts of the Electoral Act that are an affront on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But the interpretation, again, that INEC also tried to constrict the time more the timetable was tight, and most political parties were complaining,” Ememobong stated.
He described the judgment as a “breather” for the PDP, noting that the party had been under pressure from aspiring members and candidates to extend deadlines for form purchases and submissions.
“It grants an opportunity for deeper and larger participation of people in the process as long as INEC does not appeal the judgment. The judgment gives political parties more time, if INEC doesn’t appeal, to organise their internal processes,” Ememobong said.
The PDP spokesman also made a broader constitutional argument about political membership, contending that it was wrong to say an individual could not register in two political associations, as long as they would not contest on two platforms on the same date. He likened political parties to religious bodies and social groups, arguing that the Constitution guarantees individuals the right to freely subscribe to any association without inhibitions.
“We must appreciate the fact that when democracy is involved and when the choice of leaders is the question, then we must learn to hurry slowly, because the actions taken now will have effects in four, eight years,” Ememobong cautioned.
PDP (Mohammed Camp): Awaiting Legal Analysis
The rival National Working Committee of the PDP led by Honourable Abdulrahman Mohammed the faction currently recognised by INEC took a more measured approach, stating that it would await a thorough legal analysis of the judgment by its legal department before speaking on the development.
The contrasting responses of the two PDP factions underscore the continued dysfunction within the opposition party, where even a court judgment ostensibly favourable to all political parties produces different institutional responses because the party itself cannot agree on who speaks for it.
NDC: “A Greek Gift”
The most cautionary voice came from the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), which expressed strong reservations about the judgment and warned opposition parties against celebrating what it described as a ruling with potentially dangerous unintended consequences.
Ladipo Johnson, a chieftain of the NDC, described the judgment as “a Greek Gift that could instigate explosions within opposition parties” and urged that Justice Umar’s ruling be viewed with extreme caution rather than celebration.
Johnson explained that the dominant view among opposition stakeholders was that the ruling, though favourable on the surface, may create unintended political and legal consequences capable of destabilising internal party structures.
His central concern was the defection question. Johnson noted that many opposition parties had chosen to continue with the earlier May 10 timetable despite the court’s extension because of fears over defections and the possibility of political infiltration.
“Opposition leaders are particularly worried that politicians who may lose primary elections within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could exploit the extended period to defect to other parties and contest for tickets,” Johnson explained.
He warned that such defections may not only alter existing political calculations but also trigger internal leadership disputes and weaken party cohesion. Incoming APC defectors, he suggested, could arrive with their own political structures, financial resources, and factional loyalties potentially destabilising the internal equilibrium of smaller opposition parties that have already completed their own primary processes and settled on candidates.
“Opposition leaders are viewing the extension as a Greek Gift rather than an opportunity,” Johnson stated.
The NDC’s warning introduces a dimension to the post-judgment debate that has been largely absent from the celebratory reactions of the ADC and PDP. While those parties have focused on the expanded flexibility and the potential inflow of new members, the NDC has identified the risk that such inflows could be Trojan horses politicians arriving not out of ideological alignment but out of opportunistic calculation, and bringing with them the kind of internal conflicts that have historically torn Nigerian political parties apart.
The divergent reactions from the four parties reflect fundamentally different calculations about who ultimately benefits from the court’s ruling.
The ADC sees the judgment as unlocking an exit door from the APC, allowing aggrieved aspirants who lost primaries or were disqualified during screening to seek nomination on the ADC platform thereby strengthening the party with high-profile recruits and their political structures.
The PDP (Turaki camp) sees it as a breather that allows more time to recruit members, sell forms, and organise its internal processes — particularly valuable for a faction that is still competing with a rival NWC for control of the party.
The PDP (Mohammed camp) is reserving judgment, presumably because the implications for its own recognition status and internal processes are uncertain until a full legal analysis is completed.
The NDC sees the ruling as a potential trap a court decision that superficially benefits opposition parties but may in practice serve as a mechanism for the APC to offload its internal problems onto the opposition, sending failed aspirants and disqualified candidates to infiltrate and destabilise rival parties.
INEC now finds itself under pressure from two directions simultaneously. On one side, the Federal High Court judgment has stripped away key aspects of its timetable authority and the commission must decide whether to accept the ruling, appeal it, or revise its schedule. On the other side, the APC presidential primary has produced a result that strains credibility 10.9 million votes in an internal exercise where there was no real competition accompanied by a viral video showing apparent vote inflation in the ward of one of the country’s highest-ranking legislators.
The commission’s stated inability to act on the court judgment until it receives the full ruling, combined with its silence on the presidential primary counting controversy, has created a perception among critics that INEC is paralysed unable or unwilling to assert its independence in the face of either judicial challenge or political manipulation.
The question of whether INEC will appeal the timetable judgment remains the single most consequential pending decision in Nigeria’s pre-2027 electoral landscape. If the commission appeals and obtains a stay, the original timetable including the May 10 membership register deadline would be restored, closing the defection window that the court has opened. If INEC does not appeal, the expanded timelines become permanent features of the 2027 electoral cycle, with all the political realignments, defections, and party restructuring that the various parties have predicted.
Neither INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan nor any senior commission official has made a public statement on the judgment or the APC primary results beyond the comments of the two publicity officials. The commission’s formal position is awaited.
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