The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that political parties whose candidates were not listed on the membership registers submitted to the commission will not be allowed to field them in the 2027 elections.
The commission also ruled out the possibility of such parties replacing the affected candidates, saying parties should not be allowed to benefit from violations committed during their nomination processes.
INEC National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mohammed Haruna, disclosed this while speaking on Trust TV’s Daily Politics programme on Wednesday evening.
His comments followed the Supreme Court’s September 24, 2026 judgement, which 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.
Haruna said allowing affected parties to substitute the candidates would amount to rewarding them for an infraction.
“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.”
According to him, the implication could extend beyond individual candidates, with some political parties potentially unable to field candidates for several positions.
He said, “some parties may not be able to finish with even governorship candidates.”
“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 said INEC was still studying the Supreme Court judgement and consulting its legal experts before issuing a definitive position.
He explained that the commission needed to obtain and authenticate the Certified True Copy of the judgement before taking further steps.
“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 expects to make a definite pronouncement on the implications of the judgement by Tuesday next week.
He also expressed concern over the tone of political campaigns ahead of the 2027 elections, particularly the use of threats by political actors.
According to him, such rhetoric remains disturbing regardless of how widespread it is.
“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.”
Haruna added that INEC was working to secure the funds required for the 2027 elections, stressing that the commission was already operating under tight timelines.