Nigeria’s Supreme Court reserves judgment on electoral law — Premium Times Nigeria
Nigeria’s Supreme Court heard arguments in the appeal by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against the Court of Appeal’s ruling on provisions of the 2026 Electoral Act and reserved judgment. As Premium Times Nigeria reports, the parties will be notified of the date for delivering the verdict.
Challenged provisions
The case was initiated by the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), which challenged provisions of the law concerning party primaries and membership registers. Earlier, the Court of Appeal in Abuja struck down part of these provisions, after which INEC appealed to the Supreme Court.
The dispute concerns sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7), and 84(2) of the Electoral Act. The first three regulate parties’ use of membership registers: only persons listed in a register submitted to INEC no later than 21 days before the relevant procedure could vote in primaries, congresses, or conventions. The law also prohibited the use of any other register for these procedures.
Section 77(7) provided that a party that failed to submit a register within the stipulated period could not nominate a candidate in an election. Section 84(2) stipulated that parties must select candidates through direct primaries or consensus.
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Positions of the parties and course of the case
ZLP argued that these restrictions contradicted Nigeria’s constitution and constituted interference in the internal affairs of political parties. The party also referred to constitutional provisions on parties’ powers to nominate candidates.
On May 5, the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the suit. However, on July 16, the Court of Appeal partially allowed ZLP’s appeal and struck down the disputed provisions. At the same time, the court did not invalidate the general obligation for parties to maintain membership registers and submit them to INEC, but struck down the specific restrictions on the use and submission of registers, as well as the consequences of failing to submit them.
INEC is asking the Supreme Court to overturn the appellate ruling and restore all four provisions. ZLP, for its part, insists that the Court of Appeal’s decision should be upheld.
