POLITICS
Appeal Court Reinstates INEC 2027 Election Timetable
By David Torough, Abuja
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has restored the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) revised timetable and guidelines for the 2027 general elections, setting aside the Federal High Court judgment that nullified key aspects of the electoral body’s schedule.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday, by a three-member panel, the appellate court upheld INEC’s appeal and overturned the May 20 decision of the Federal High Court, which had invalidated portions of the commission’s revised timetable, including deadlines for party primaries, submission of membership registers, and nomination of candidates.
Delivering the lead judgment prepared by Justice Adebukola Banjoko, Justice Okon Abang held that the trial court erred by interfering with INEC’s administrative discretion, stressing that the Constitution and the Electoral Act empower the commission to regulate the conduct of elections.
The appellate court further ruled that INEC’s revised timetable constitutes subsidiary legislation under the Electoral Act 2026 and therefore carries the same force of law as the Act itself. It held that all the deadlines contained in the timetable fall within the ambit of the Electoral Act and that the commission acted within its statutory powers.
The court also held that the Youth Party (YP), which instituted the suit against INEC, lacked the locus standi (legal standing) to challenge the commission’s guidelines, noting that the party failed to demonstrate how the timetable or guidelines adversely affected its rights or its participation in the electoral process.
According to the court, there was no evidence that the party was prevented or threatened from conducting its primaries, adding that judicial intervention is only warranted where there is a genuine threat to a party’s participation in an election.
The appellate court concluded that the declaratory reliefs granted by the trial court were wrongly issued and consequently set them aside.
INEC had appealed the Federal High Court judgment through its lead counsel, Alex Izinyon, arguing that the lower court erred by failing to determine its preliminary objection that the suit was hypothetical and academic, thereby denying the commission a fair hearing.
The commission also maintained that the judgment was against the weight of evidence and urged the Court of Appeal to strike out the suit for lack of jurisdiction on the grounds that the Youth Party lacked the legal capacity to institute the action.
The dispute arose after the Youth Party challenged INEC’s directive requiring political parties to submit their membership registers and databases by May 10 as a condition for participation in the 2027 general elections.
In its May 20 judgment, the Federal High Court had held that INEC could not lawfully shorten timelines prescribed under the Electoral Act 2026, ruling that the commission lacked the power to impose earlier deadlines for party primaries, submission and substitution of candidates, and publication of the final list of candidates.
However, the Court of Appeal found that the trial court failed to apply binding legal precedents and wrongly invalidated INEC’s timetable, thereby restoring the commission’s guidelines and timelines for the conduct of the 2027 general elections.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission is considering conducting a comprehensive audit of its electoral technology systems and a mock presidential election ahead of the 2027 general election to test the reliability of its processes and technology.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Thursday while receiving the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Richard Montgomery, on a courtesy visit to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
According to a statement posted on INEC’s official X page, the proposals were under consideration by the commission and were informed by concerns arising from the 2023 general election, particularly regarding the reliability of election technology.
“The INEC Chairman said the proposals, which were under consideration by the commission that same day, were informed by concerns arising from the 2023 general election, particularly regarding the reliability of election technology.
“According to him, the commission was looking at the possibility of auditing all its systems ahead of the 2027 election, as well as conducting a mock presidential election, to test the readiness of its processes and technology before the actual polls,” the post read.
He noted that the proposed exercises were not originally captured in the commission’s budget but said INEC would explore ways to implement them if necessary, given their potential to strengthen the credibility of the general election.
The INEC chairman linked the proposals to the commission’s broader efforts to improve technological reliability, including the continued deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the INEC Result Viewing Portal.
He added that the commission was also reviewing its cyber-security architecture, covering system redundancy, penetration testing and disaster recovery mechanisms.
The statement noted that Montgomery said the UK had been closely following INEC’s preparations for the 2027 general election, including recent off-cycle elections in Ekiti, the Federal Capital Territory and Anambra, as well as preparations for the Osun State governorship election.
The envoy, who said he would conclude his tenure in about six weeks, assured the commission of the UK’s continued support, expressing confidence that his successor would sustain the partnership with INEC ahead of the 2027 general election.
Former Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, has said he didn’t bargain for the “deluge” of good will messages, which came his way on his 70th birthday, on August 8.
In a statement at the weekend, the former National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) said while it was “no doubt a privilege worthy of appreciation to attain the age of three scores and ten on August 8, 2026” he was overwhelmed by the show of love from different parts of the country and beyond.
“My attempts to write individualized responses to the thousands of messages have come to nought as I lose count of who and what messages to respond to.
“I take this opportunity therefore, to convey my most sincere and heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the multitude of well wishers across all divides who have, in their various ways shared the momentous day with me.
I, however, want to thank notably, Allah (SWT) for enabling the attainment as well as so many other favours that only He is capable of” he said in the statement to the media.
He appreciated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Dr Tajuddeen Abbas, Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, members of the National Assembly, the set of 1999 governors and other former governors, His Highness Ambassador Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, CFR, Emir of Zazzau and several other Emirs and Chiefs from both within and outside Kaduna State, leaders of various political parties, other political leaders as well as candidates to various offices across partisan divides, religious leaders, and friends and well-wishers, as stated who he said either called or wrote goodwill messages to him.
“I equally appreciate the numerous youths and youth groups that took to the social media to felicitate with me.
I want to say that the various messages, many of which described me in superlatives that made me wonder as to who the references are, have humbled me but at the same time will serve as a tonic that gingers me to continue to give my best to support the unity, peace and progress of our country and its people” he stated.
He urged his friends, political associates and supporters to close ranks and confront the myriad of problems bedeviling the nation saying the challenges were surmountable with a strong will and spirit.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for the submission of the list of candidates for the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections for the 2027 general elections to Aug. 11.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, announced the extension in a statement in Abuja.
Haruna noted that the extension of the deadline for the upload of nominations onto the commission’s dedicated portal followed appeals by political parties.
“The submission window which, according to the revised time table and schedule of activities for the general elections, originally scheduled to close on Saturday, Aug.
8, has been extended to Tuesday, Aug. 11.“The extension follows growing appeals by political parties for additional time to complete the process,” he said.
Haruna also notified voters who applied for replacement of lost, damaged or defaced permanent voter cards (PVCs) that the window to print downloadable copies of their cards would expire by midnight of Aug. 9.
This, according to him, is to allow the commission to compile the data of downloaded PVCs for final statistics of the total PVCs collected ahead of the Aug. 15 Osun governorship election.
He recalled that collection of PVCs in Osun was held at the registration area (RA) level from July 22 to July 28.
“Owing to complaints of large crowds and difficulties encountered by voters at collection centres, the commission approved an extension of RA-level collection to July 31, before collection moved to LGA level, running from Aug. 1 to Aug. 7.
“The commission also wishes to state that replacement of downloadable PVCs has been made available to voters in Odo-Otin and Ife Central local government areas whose cards were carted away by hoodlums who invaded the two centres.
“The commission reiterates that the stolen cards cannot be used to vote,” he said.
Haruna reassured the people of Osun of INEC’s readiness to conduct a free, fair, credible and inclusive governorship election on Aug. 15.
By Eze Okechukwu, Abuja
The Federal Government of Nigeria spent a whopping N1.16trillion on fuel subsidy, losing N16.20billion to crude and product issues while deducting a total of N1.20trillion from the federation account as sales and proceeds in 2021.
Disclosing this in Abuja yesterday during his presentation to the Senate Public Account Committee (SPAC) probing the 2021- 2023 Audit Report on the Oil and Gas Industry conducted by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the Chairman of Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Dr Mohammed Bello Shehu added that pipeline repairs gulped N22.
05billion and strategic stock holding N6.75billion in that fiscal year.Speaking further, the RMFAC boss revealed to the Committee that during the period, the intention of the derivation objective was undermined by the way it was computed.
“The practice of computing 13% derivation on the balance of revenue after deductions from the total collections is contrary to the intention of the derivation objective “, he said.
However the Senate Committee Chairman on Public Account who was a former Accountant General of the Federation, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo stood down the reports of the Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC) ‘s submission saying the measure was to offer members enough time to study the report while ordering the Agency to reappear midweek.
Senator Dankwambo who was visibly upset following the non – appearance of the Auditor – General of the Federation for the investigative session without any valid or representative however threatened that the Auditor General must unfailingly appear before the Committee on Tuesday next week or risk a forced appearance through the invocation of the powers of the National Assembly.
” The Auditor – General must unfailingly appear before this committee on Tuesday next week or risk invocation of powers of the National Assembly against him , which will lead to forced appearance”, he said.
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