2027: Court rulings could disrupt election planning process, INEC warns

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is taking legal action to safeguard its timetable for the 2027 general elections. The commission has filed appeals against two recent Federal High Court rulings that questioned key components of its schedule, warning that any attempt to alter the planned timeline could disrupt the entire electoral process.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, announced the appeals on Tuesday in Abuja during a consultative meeting with political party leaders. He explained that the commission reviewed the judgments and decided to seek clearer interpretations from appellate courts regarding its legal and constitutional mandate in organizing elections. The first ruling, on May 20, 2026, challenged specific timelines in INEC's schedule, while a second judgment on May 26, 2026, affirmed INEC's authority to issue a timetable but struck out certain deadlines for candidate nomination and substitution.

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an election timetable, without a date for submission of parties’ membership register, timeframe for primaries, etc., is inchoate. Without this timetable, there would be chaos in our electoral system.

Amupitan stressed that INEC views the election timetable as a cohesive framework, not just a list of dates. He argued that the processes are interconnected and cannot be separated without impacting the integrity of election planning. Citing the court's own observation in one ruling, he noted that an election timetable lacking dates for critical steps like party register submission and primary timelines would be "inchoate," leading to chaos in the electoral system.

While respecting judicial decisions, INEC maintains that these cases raise fundamental questions about the scope of its powers in regulating elections. The commission highlighted that while the Electoral Act specifies some timelines, many critical preparation steps are not statutorily defined and must be accommodated within the overall schedule to ensure credible elections.

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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.