The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has clarified that the Supreme Court’s recent judgment restoring key provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 does not automatically disqualify individual candidates from contesting the 2027 general elections.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, made the clarification on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, in Abuja while addressing the commission’s World Press Conference on preparations for the 2027 elections. He said INEC had received the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court judgment and was reviewing its implications.
According to Amupitan, the judgment primarily concerns the eligibility of political parties to participate in elections and field candidates where they fail to comply with statutory requirements relating to membership registers and the nomination of candidates.
“The commission has received the Certified True Copy of the judgment and is currently reviewing its implications,” Amupitan said, adding that INEC had received complaints and enquiries from political parties, aspirants and members of the National Assembly concerning the ruling.
The Supreme Court, in a judgment delivered on September 24, 2026, restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 after setting aside the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal which had voided the provisions.
The provisions deal principally with political party membership registers and the procedure for nominating candidates for elective offices. Section 77(5) provides that only persons whose names appear in a political party’s membership register submitted to INEC within the stipulated period can participate in the party’s primaries, congresses or conventions.
Section 77(6) requires political parties to use the membership register submitted to INEC for their primaries, congresses and conventions, while Section 77(7) provides that a party that fails to submit its membership register within the prescribed period shall not be eligible to field a candidate in an election.
Section 84(2), meanwhile, provides that political parties shall nominate candidates for elective positions through direct primaries or consensus.
The apex court’s interpretation distinguished between the eligibility of a political party to field candidates and the personal qualification or disqualification of an individual candidate. In its judgment, the court held that Section 77 does not, by itself, disqualify an individual member of a political party from contesting a general election.
The consequence of a party’s failure to comply with the statutory membership-register requirement, therefore, relates to the party’s eligibility to field candidates rather than automatically rendering an individual aspirant personally ineligible.
Amupitan said INEC would study the certified judgment thoroughly before taking a definitive position on its implications for the 2027 electoral process.
The clarification comes amid concerns among political parties and aspirants over how the restored provisions could affect nominations and candidates whose names may not be contained in membership registers submitted to the commission.
The House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters has also urged INEC to audit candidates submitted by political parties and verify whether their names are contained in the relevant membership registers submitted to the commission.
However, the Supreme Court’s interpretation means that any question concerning a particular candidate’s eligibility would have to be determined from the circumstances of the candidate’s nomination, the party’s membership register, when the register was submitted to INEC and the conduct of the relevant primary, rather than being treated as an automatic consequence of the judgment.
With INEC now in possession of the Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court judgment, attention has shifted to how the commission will apply the apex court’s interpretation to political parties and candidates already preparing for the 2027 general elections.
