Independent National Electoral Commission says political parties found to be fielding candidates whose names were not on the registers it submitted to the commission will not be allowed to participate in the 2027 elections.
Recall that the Supreme Court, in its September 24, 2026 judgement, affirmed the constitutionality of Sections 77(5), 77(6) and 77(7) of the Electoral Act 2026 and upheld INEC’s revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 elections.
INEC National Commissioner in charge of information and voter education, Malam Mohammed Haruna, made the point clear while speaking on Trust TV programme, Daily Politics on Wednesday evening.
He said parties will not be allowed to substitute such candidates because defaulters will not be allowed to benefit from an offence they committed.
Haruna said the commission should be able to make a definite pronouncement on the Supreme Court judgment by Tuesday next week.
“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. 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.”
The INEC commissioner said by implication depending on when INEC finally concludes, “some parties may not be able to finish with even governorship candidates.”
He added, “All the candidates, all the way to the houses of assembly, we interviewed them. If their names are not on the party register, they were not members of the party at the time that they contested for those tickets.”
Haruna acknowledged that a lot of people are anxious to know what will happen but that the delay is because INEC has to get advice from its legal expert after getting the Certified True Copy of the judgement.
“You can’t be too careful with these things because even when you see copies and they tell you it’s a CTC, it may be forged. We’ve seen instances where people have even gone, have the audacity to forge a Supreme Court judgment. So, we have to be very careful to make sure that when you took us, we did put a lot of pressure and we were able to get it yesterday (Tuesday).
The INEC commissioner said the commission is equally worried by the manner of campaigns where threats are deployed by various players but added, “Those kind of things, even if it’s a minority, it’s a cause for concern, because nobody should be threatened at all. All those talks, they are not reassuring at all. There are things, there are talks, actions, that really is a cause for worry, not just for us, but it should be a cause of worry for everybody, including the ruling party.”
He said the commission is doing everything to secure the funds needed to conduct the elections as it doesn’t have the luxury of time any more.
