Supreme Court verdict: Candidates not in party registers risk disqualification —INEC

•Affected parties will not be allowed to substitute candidates, it says •To decide fate of parties affected by apex court’s judgment next week

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that political parties that fielded candidates whose names were not on the membership registers submitted to the commission will not be allowed to contest in the 2027 general elections.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mohammed Kudu Haruna, disclosed this on Trust TV’s Daily Politics programme on Wednesday evening.

Haruna said the commission would take a final decision on the implications of the Supreme Court judgment by next week, noting that public anxiety has increased following the ruling.

“Depending on circumstances, hopefully, we will definitely meet next week to be able to take a decision on this, because I know a lot of people are anxious, not just candidates themselves; even public are anxious. They want to know, given what way Supreme Court has strengthened our hands,” he said.

The Supreme Court had in its September 24, 2026 judgment in INEC v Zenith Labour Party affirmed sections 77(5)-(7) of Electoral Act 2026 and upheld INEC’s revised timetable for 2027 elections.

Haruna said the judgment affirmed INEC’s position that parties must submit list of members at least three weeks before their primaries.

He said affected parties would not be allowed to substitute candidates, adding that parties should not benefit from violation of law.

“Because that is what this (Judgment) has done, and said, yes, we are right to have insisted that, you know, any party that wants to contest must submit the list of its membership three weeks before their primaries. So, we need to really sit down…. but by next week, we should be able to take a decision.”

When told that the danger inherent in the judgment was that some of the parties might substitute and submit new candidates, Haruna said: “It’s too late to do anything. The party won’t even be able to contest. It’s like you committed an offence and then you come and benefit from it. You remember cases that we had in Zamfara, you remember Plateau? Same thing,” he said.

“It’s like you committed an offence. And then, you come and benefit from it. You remember cases that we had of some in Zamfara, you remember Plateau? The same thing.

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“The parties, because they did the wrong thing, they thought they could now steal through the candidates.

“And the law was very clear. Once you do that kind of thing, you cannot benefit from it. You are benefiting from it if you are able to substitute a candidate,” he said.

According to him, depending on when the commission concludes its review, some political parties may be unable to field candidates for some elective positions.

“So, what it means is that, you know,… when we looked at the law, and… taking a decision, some parties may not be able to field even governorship candidates, or all the candidates, all the way to the Houses of Assembly, if their names are not on the party register, they were not members of the party, as at the time that they contested for those tickets,” Haruna said.

Haruna explained that delay in pronouncement was due to need to obtain Certified True Copy (CTC) of judgment and legal advice, noting that forged judgments had been presented in past.

“You can’t be too careful with these things because even when you see copies and they tell you it’s CTC, it may be forged. We’ve seen instances where people have even gone, have audacity to forge a Supreme Court judgment. So we have to be very careful,” he said.

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, had earlier on Tuesday disclosed that 112 formal complaints on unlawful withdrawal and substitution were investigated and resolved except those pending in court, adding that commission received CTC of Supreme Court judgment on Tuesday morning.

Under revised timetable, INEC fixed presidential and National Assembly elections for Saturday, January 16, 2027, while governorship and State Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, February 6, 2027.

Party primaries were scheduled to hold between April 23 and May 30, 2026, while submission of candidate nominations is from June 27 to July 11, 2026.