A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has delivered a major setback to the Independent National Electoral Commission by nullifying key portions of its revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general elections. In a landmark judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Umar, the court ruled that the electoral umpire overstepped its statutory boundaries by compressing and shortening timelines explicitly established under the Electoral Act.
The legal battle follows a lawsuit instituted against the commission by the Youth Party, marked as suit FHC/ABJ/CS/517/2016. The plaintiff had approached the court seeking an interpretation of Sections 29, 82, and 84(1) of the Electoral Act, arguing that while the commission has the constitutional right to monitor party primaries and receive official notifications, its administrative powers do not extend to fixing rigid timetables that effectively abridge the statutory periods guaranteed to political parties by law. A review of the Certified True Copy of the judgment confirmed that the court granted all the declaratory reliefs sought by the political party.
In his ruling, Justice Umar held that the commission’s announced timeframe for political parties to conduct their primaries and manage candidate logistics was completely inconsistent with the law. Specifically, the court struck down the commission’s mandate requiring political parties to submit a complete register and database of all their members by May 10 as a strict precondition for qualifying to participate in the general elections.
Furthermore, the court voided the compressed window within which political parties were directed to conduct their primary elections, alongside deadlines governing the submission of candidates’ personal particulars and the windows for the withdrawal and substitution of candidates. The court emphasized that Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act strictly requires political parties to submit the particulars of their candidates not later than 120 days before an election, and maintained that the electoral body cannot lawfully use an administrative timetable to reduce or override that statutory 120-day pre-election period.
This judgment delivers immediate relief to Nigeria’s registered political parties, many of which had been under immense pressure to finalize their internal registers and organize logistics under a heavily compressed schedule. By ruling that the electoral commission cannot override or rewrite the Electoral Act, the court has effectively reset the roadmap for the 2027 polls, forcing the electoral body to readjust its schedules, extend campaign periods, and realign its primary election deadlines to comply strictly with the law.
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