Electoral Act: How the Presidency Failed Nigerians — Sambo

A public affairs analyst, Sumner Sambo, has said that the presidency failed Nigerians in the 2026 Electoral Act because it did not pay adequate due diligence before signing the Act.

Sambo made the comments on Thursday while fielding questions in an interview on Arise Television.

He was responding to the Federal High Court judgment that nullified key portions of the electoral timetable for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body that will oversee the next year’s general elections.

He questioned INEC’s haste, noting that there was sufficient time to study and understand the Act.

“The presidency did not pay due diligence before signing the Electoral Act. The president himself was too hasty to sign the Act without having his team sit down and actually go through it,” Sambo said.

“The constitutional provisions are very clear and the provisions of the Electoral Act are very clear.”

“If you have 120 days before an election by which political parties must submit their candidates, their credentials and all of that, and the election is January 16, why will you now bring the deadline from January 16 instead of September, and then you now bring it down to May?” he asked.

“First of all, the submission of the register and also the holding of campaigns, that’s primaries and all of that. Now if you take a look at this between May, June, July, August, September, we still have 4 months. Why is INEC rushing?”

“Maybe the reason for the rush is because of the failure of the National Assembly to pass the electoral act on time. The electoral act should have been out by December 2025 so that INEC can plan its logistics very well,” he added.