Abuja: The Federal High Court in Abuja has voided the 2027 election timetable issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Justice Mohammed Umar delivered the judgment on a suit brought by Youth Party, stating that INEC’s timetable imposed restrictive timeframes on political parties for conducting primaries and other pre-election activities, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Justice Umar ruled that INEC lacks the statutory power to set or prescribe the timeframe within which political parties must conduct their primaries for nominating candidates for the 2027 general elections. The Youth Party, the plaintiff in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/517/2026, sued INEC as the sole defendant, seeking six reliefs.
Justice Umar granted all six reliefs sought by the plaintiff. The judge declared that INEC cannot lawfully abridge or limit the statutory periods provided under the Electoral Act concerning the submission of personal particulars of candidates, withdrawal and substitution of candidates, among others. Consequently, the judge set aside the portions of INEC’s Revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2027 General Elections that imposed timelines inconsistent with the Electoral Act, 2026.
Justice Umar’s declarations included that INEC does not have the authority to fix the timetable for political parties’ primary elections, cannot abridge statutory periods for candidate submission and withdrawal, and cannot publish a final list of candidates before the legally prescribed period. The court also held that INEC’s timeframe for submission of membership registers is not applicable to primary elections conducted for replacing withdrawn candidates. An order was granted nullifying the timeframes imposed by INEC in its Revised Timetable for the 2027 General Election.