• IPAC: 2026 Electoral Act created unintended consequences
Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it will issue official access codes to all political parties for the purpose of accessing the Candidate Nomination Portal on Friday, June 26, 2026.
Chairman of INEC, Josiah Amupitan, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at the Second Quarterly Consultative Meeting with leaders of political parties.
He noted that the access codes would enable designated national officers of political parties to upload the names, personal particulars and other required information relating to nominated candidates.
The chairman said with 10 days away from the Ekiti State governorship election scheduled for Saturday, June 20, 2026 and to ensure complete institutional transparency, he recently led a high-level delegation to Ekiti State to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the commission’s preparedness for the election.
While describing INEC preparations as progressing satisfactorily, Amupitan stressed that the register of voters for the election contains a total of 1,059,360 registered voters.
He noted that the figure reflects the addition of 66,664 new voters registered during the first and second phases of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) to the 2023 register of 987,647 voters.
According to him, “In line with our commitment to maintaining the integrity of the register, 2,103 registrations identified as cases of double registration were invalidated.
“Our logistics arrangements, election technology deployment, training of election officials and stakeholder engagements are all proceeding according to schedule.
“We remain committed to the simultaneous opening of all 2,445 polling units across the 16 local government areas of the state at 8:30 a.m. on election day.”
Amupitan stressed that it was necessary to address recent judicial pronouncements relating to the commission’s timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general election.
He explained that the commission has carefully considered two recent judgments of the Federal High Court concerning the scope of its powers to prescribe timelines for electoral activities.
Amupitan recalled that in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/517/2026 – Youth Party v. INEC –delivered on May 20, 2026, the court questioned certain timelines contained in the commission’s timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general election.
Subsequently, he said in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/720/2026 – Social Democratic Party (SDP) v. INEC, delivered on 26th May 2026 — the court affirmed the commission’s authority to issue an electoral timetable and observed that “an election timetable, without date for submission of parties’ membership register, timeframe for primaries, etc. is inchoate”.
Amupitan added: “Without this timetable, there would be chaos in our electoral system. At the same time, the court nullified certain timelines relating to the nomination and substitution of candidates contained in the commission’s timetable and schedule of activities.
“While the commission remains fully respectful of the decisions of the courts and of the judicial process generally, these judgments raise important legal questions concerning the extent of the commission’s constitutional and statutory powers in coordinating and regulating electoral activities.
“In view of the differing conclusions reached in the judgments and in order to ensure certainty and stability in preparations for the 2027 general election, the commission has filed appeals against the decisions and has taken the necessary legal steps to obtain authoritative pronouncements from the appellate courts.
“The commission’s position remains that the activities contained in the timetable and schedule of activities are not isolated events.
‘They are interrelated operational processes designed to ensure the orderly, transparent and successful conduct of elections.
“While the Electoral Act prescribes timelines for certain activities, there are several critical electoral processes for which no express statutory timelines are provided but which must necessarily be accommodated within the overall electoral calendar.
“The absence of coordinated timelines for such activities would create uncertainty, disrupt election planning and undermine the commission’s constitutional responsibility to organise, undertake and supervise elections in an efficient and credible manner.”
Amupitan said these activities include the submission and verification of party membership registers; the monitoring of party primaries across the federation; the pre-upload of the names of winners of monitored primaries by political parties on the commission’s designated portal as an accountability mechanism aimed at strengthening internal party democracy; the nomination process itself; the printing of ballot papers and result sheets and quality assurance procedures; among others.
He stated further that the commission therefore considered it imperative that all electoral activities be harmonised within a coherent and workable framework that promotes certainty, transparency, administrative efficiency and equal treatment of all political parties.
“I wish to assure political parties and the Nigerian public that notwithstanding the pending appeals, the commission remains firmly committed to conducting the 2027 general election in strict compliance with the constitution, the Electoral Act and all lawful judicial pronouncements,” he assured.
The chairman said following the conclusion of the primaries, the Commission is transitioning to the candidate nomination phase.
His words: “Accordingly, on Friday, 26th June, 2026, the Commission will issue official access codes to all political parties for the purpose of accessing the Candidate Nomination Portal.
“These access codes will enable designated national officers of political parties to upload the names, personal particulars and other required information relating to nominated candidates.
“I urge political parties to ensure that their ICT personnel and relevant officers are adequately prepared and that all submissions are completed well before the stipulated deadlines.
“The portal is fully automated and will close automatically at the expiration of the prescribed period.”
The chairman said the credibility of elections depends on the collective commitment to the rule of law, democratic values and the integrity of the electoral process.
He assured that the Commission remained independent, impartial in the discharge of its constitutional responsibilities and firmly committed to ensuring that every valid vote counts and that the will of the Nigerian people is faithfully reflected in electoral outcomes.
Speaking, the national Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr. Yusuf Dantalle said as Nigeria marks 27 years of uninterrupted constitutional democracy, it was reasonable to expect that the country’s democratic institutions, electoral processes, and legal framework would have evolved sufficiently to deepen democratic culture, promote political stability, strengthen electoral integrity, and enhance the quality of governance.
He noted that the aspiration of every patriotic Nigerian is to see a democratic system that is inclusive, transparent, accountable, and responsive to the needs and expectations of the people.
The chairman pointed out that the success of any electoral process begins long before Election Day, saying it starts with the credibility, transparency, and legitimacy of the processes through which political parties nominate candidates for public office.
He emphasised that political parties remained the primary vehicles for democratic participation and electoral competition.
Consequently, Dabtalle noted that the integrity of the electoral process is fundamentally linked to the integrity of internal party processes.
He added that the nomination of candidates by political parties for the 2027 general election officially concluded on Saturday, 30 May 2026, in accordance with the timetable and schedule of activities released by INEC.
However, the chairman said the conduct of these primaries exposed significant legal, administrative, and operational challenges that deserve urgent national attention.
He stated: “Political parties encountered unprecedented difficulties in conducting primaries for the offices of President, Governor, Senator, Member of the House of Representatives, and Member of the State House of Assembly.
“These challenges arose largely from the restrictive provisions of Section 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, which limited parties to either consensus or direct primaries, effectively eliminating the option of indirect primaries.
“The experience of the just-concluded nomination exercise demonstrates that the removal of indirect primaries created considerable constraints for political parties.
“In many instances, parties adopted the consensus option despite the existence of multiple aspirants who had duly purchased expression of interest and nomination forms.
“Several aspirants were persuaded, and in some cases pressured, to withdraw from the contest after preferred candidates had already been identified by influential party stakeholders.
“While some aspirants accepted these arrangements in the interest of party unity, others challenged their exclusion, arguing that genuine consensus requires the voluntary agreement of all contestants.
“Consequently, several disputes have found their way to the courts, creating uncertainty and avoidable tension within the political system.”
Amupitan said enormous financial and logistical demands associated with direct primaries presented significant challenges, particularly for political parties that do not control governmental resources.
Faced with these realities, the chairman said some parties adopted extraordinary measures to avoid circumstances that could necessitate direct primaries.
According to him, In some cases, nomination forms were not made widely available to prospective aspirants. In others, congress and primary election schedules were not publicly announced in a timely manner to minimise potential disputes.
“These developments constitute an unfortunate and unintended consequence of the current legal framework governing party primaries.”
The Chairman recalled that political parties were required to submit updated membership registers, including National Identification Numbers (NIN), within a limited timeframe.
He said while the objective of enhancing the credibility and accuracy of party membership records is commendable, the implementation process proved challenging. Many genuine party members were inadvertently excluded due to logistical constraints and the compressed timeline for compliance.
Dabtalle maintained that political parties should retain the flexibility to determine the most appropriate method of selecting their candidates, provided such processes remain democratic, transparent, and consistent with constitutional principles.
He said IPAC communicated these concerns to relevant national institutions and also drew the attention of the international community, including the United Nations, the European Union, ECOWAS, diplomatic missions, and Nigerians in the Diaspora.
Dantalle stressed: “The events surrounding the recently concluded primaries have unfortunately validated many of the concerns previously raised by the Council.
“Accordingly, IPAC calls on the National Assembly, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to undertake a comprehensive review of the Electoral Act 2026 with a view to addressing the operational deficiencies revealed during the nomination process.
“Electoral laws should promote democratic participation, strengthen political institutions, and advance the national interest rather than create avoidable obstacles to effective political competition.”
