The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that political parties that presented candidates whose names were missing from their official membership registers submitted to the commission could be barred from participating in the 2027 general elections.
The warning follows a September 24 landmark judgment by the Supreme Court, which affirmed the constitutionality of Sections 77(5), 77(6), and 77(7) of the Electoral Act 2026 and upheld INEC’s revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 elections.
Speaking on Trust TV’s Daily Politics programme on Wednesday evening, INEC National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mohammed Haruna, explained the implications of the judgment for affected political parties and their candidates.
Haruna said candidates found not to have been members of their respective parties at the time they obtained their tickets would be disqualified. He also confirmed that affected parties would not be allowed to substitute such candidates.
According to him, allowing substitutions would effectively enable political parties to benefit from violations of the law.
“It’s like you committed an offence. And then, you come and benefit from it. You remember cases that we had of some in Zamfara, you remember Plateau? The same thing,” Haruna said.
“The parties, because they did the wrong thing, they thought they could now steal through the candidates. And the law was very clear. Once you do that kind of thing, you cannot benefit from it. You are benefiting from it if you are able to substitute a candidate.”
Haruna said the issue could affect candidates across several levels of government, including state Houses of Assembly, depending on the outcome of INEC’s ongoing review.
“All the candidates, all the way to the Houses of Assembly, we interviewed them,” he said. “If their names are not on the party register, they were not members of the party at the time that they contested for those tickets.”
INEC Seeks Verification of Supreme Court Judgment
The commission’s delay in issuing a definitive position, Haruna explained, was due to the need to obtain and carefully examine the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court judgment before taking action.
He said INEC had to exercise caution because of previous instances in which forged judicial documents had been presented to electoral authorities.
“You can’t be too careful with these things because even when you see copies and they tell you it’s a CTC, it may be forged,” Haruna said.
“We’ve seen instances where people have even gone, have the audacity to forge a Supreme Court judgment. So, we have to be very careful to make sure that when you took us, we did put a lot of pressure and we were able to get it yesterday.”
INEC is expected to issue a formal and comprehensive pronouncement on the practical application of the Supreme Court judgment early next week.
The commission’s final position could determine the eligibility of several candidates and political parties to participate in the 2027 general elections.
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