The Supreme Court has restored key provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 governing political party membership registers and how parties nominate their candidates, setting aside a Court of Appeal judgment that had declared those provisions unconstitutional.
In a unanimous decision on Thursday, 24 September 2026, a seven member panel led by Justice Adamu Jauro allowed an appeal filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission and reinstated Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Act. The court held that the provisions do not conflict with the 1999 Constitution, and awarded N2 million in costs against the Zenith Labour Party.
The dispute turns on rules that will govern how parties field candidates for the 2027 general elections. Under Section 77(5), only members whose names appear in the register a party submits to INEC not later than 21 days before a primary, congress or convention may take part in that exercise. Section 77(6) bars a party from using any register other than the one filed with the commission, while Section 77(7) provides that a party which fails to submit its register within the stipulated period cannot field a candidate. Section 84(2) prescribes direct primaries or consensus as the methods for nominating candidates.
The case began at the Federal High Court in Abuja, where the ZLP argued that the provisions amounted to unconstitutional interference in the internal affairs of political parties, resting its case in part on Sections 221 and 222 of the Constitution, which set out the framework for political parties. Justice Mohammed Umar dismissed the suit for lacking merit on 5 May 2026.
Dissatisfied, the party went to the Court of Appeal in Abuja. In a judgment delivered on 16 July 2026, with the lead opinion read by Justice Eberechi Suzette Nyesom-Wike, the appellate court partly allowed the appeal. It held that while the requirement for parties to keep and submit digital membership registers under Sections 77(1) to (4) could stand, the provisions attaching disqualifying consequences for non compliance went beyond the commission’s constitutional monitoring powers. On that basis it voided Sections 77(5), (6) and (7) and 84(2).
INEC challenged that outcome at the apex court in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CV/750/2026, and the Supreme Court heard arguments on 16 September before reserving judgment. Delivering the lead verdict, Justice Jauro faulted the appellate court for setting aside the provisions and, according to the court, for not dismissing the ZLP’s case in its entirety. The panel restored the sections and affirmed the position of the trial court.
The commission was represented before the apex court by Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN. The ZLP’s arguments throughout centred on its contention that the disputed sections interfered with the freedom of parties to decide whom to sponsor in an election, a freedom it located in Sections 221 and 222 of the Constitution.
The judgment came alongside two related decisions the same day, both involving appeals against INEC. In the matter between the Social Democratic Party and the commission, the court heard the appeal on its merit and dismissed it. In the Youth Party’s appeal, the court upheld a preliminary objection raised by INEC and struck out the matter as incompetent, holding that it had been filed one day out of time.
The significance of the ruling lies in its timing. With the 2027 elections approaching and parties preparing to conduct primaries, the decision settles, for now, the legal standing of the rules that will determine which aspirants can contest and which parties can present candidates at all. Had the Court of Appeal position stood, the consequences that the Act attaches to defective or late membership registers would have fallen away, leaving the commission with weaker tools to enforce compliance.
The membership register requirement responds to a recurring source of dispute in Nigerian elections, where the authenticity of party primaries and the eligibility of those who take part in them have repeatedly ended up in court. By tying participation in a primary to a register filed with INEC within a fixed period, the provisions are intended to reduce the room for parties to substitute lists or admit members after the fact.
For the parties directly involved, the outcome is a loss. The ZLP, the SDP and the Youth Party each failed to overturn the provisions or the earlier rulings against them, and the ZLP now carries the N2 million cost order. For INEC, the decision preserves the enforcement framework it had sought to defend.
As an apex court decision, the judgment is final and binding, and parties intending to contest in 2027 will have to conduct their primaries and file their registers within the terms the court has affirmed. What remains to be seen is how the commission applies the restored provisions in practice as the election cycle advances, and whether the record keeping and disclosure requirements left intact under Sections 77(1) to (4) prove sufficient on their own to resolve the disputes the rules are meant to prevent.