Court Overturns INEC Deadline, Sets New Schedule for Primaries and Candidate Nominations

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

Before the 2027 general election, political parties received a reprieve when the Federal High Court in Abuja declared invalid the timeline issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for conducting primaries and nominating candidates.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Umar, the court also overturned INEC’s May 10 deadline that required parties to submit a register and database of all their members as a condition for participating in the general elections.

The court held that the Commission’s timetable for parties to hold primaries and to submit, withdraw, or replace candidate names and particulars was “inconsistent with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.”

The decision followed a lawsuit filed by the Youth Party (YP) that sought to compel INEC to observe the 120‑day pre‑election deadline set by the Electoral Act 2026 for submitting party registers and candidates’ personal particulars.

Although the judgment was delivered on Wednesday, the Certified True Copy (CTC) became available on Thursday.

INEC was the sole defendant in YP’s suit, recorded as FHC/ABJ/CS/517/2016.

The plaintiff requested that the court declare, upon proper consideration and interpretation of Sections 29, 82 and 84(1) of the Electoral Act, that INEC’s authority to receive notices of party primaries and candidates’ particulars, and its duty to attend, observe and monitor such primaries, does not extend to fixing or prescribing the timetable for parties to conduct primaries for the 2027 general elections.

Justice Umar agreed with YP, stating that Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act requires parties to submit candidates’ personal particulars no later than 120 days before an election, and that INEC cannot lawfully shorten that statutory period by prescribing a shorter timeframe in its 2027 election timetable.

Similarly, the court held that Section 31 permits parties to withdraw and substitute candidates not later than 90 days before an election, and that INEC lacks the power to limit that period by setting an earlier deadline in its 2027 timetable.

Justice Umar also ruled that, under Section 32, INEC does not have the statutory authority to publish the final list of candidates for the 2027 general election before the 60‑day minimum period required by law.

Additional reliefs granted by the court included: “A Declaration is made that upon the proper construction of Section 98 of the Electoral Act, 2026, the defendant does not possess the statutory authority to fix in its timetable for the 2027 general elections for campaigns to end 2 days before the elections.”

And: “A declaration is made that upon the proper interpretation of Section 33 of the Electoral Act, 2026, the time frame prescribed by the Defendant for submission of membership registers for the conduct of primary elections is NOT applicable to primary elections conducted for the purpose of replacing withdrawn candidates.”

The court ordered the nullification of the time‑frames imposed by the defendant in its Revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2027 General Election for the conduct of primary elections by parties, the submission of candidates’ personal particulars, the withdrawal and replacement of candidates, the publication of the final list of candidates, and campaigning, all of which were found inconsistent with the Electoral Act, 2026.

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