INEC Bars Parties From Fielding Candidates Whose Names Not In Party Registers

Says affected parties cannot substitute candidates, final pronouncement by Tuesday

ABUJA — The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said political parties that fielded candidates whose names were not in the registers submitted to the Commission will not be allowed to participate in 2027 elections.

The position follows Supreme Court judgment of September 24, 2026, which affirmed constitutionality of Sections 77(5), 77(6) and 77(7) of Electoral Act 2026 and upheld INEC’s revised timetable and schedule of activities for 2027 general elections.

INEC National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mohammed Haruna, explained the implications of judgment on Trust TV’s Daily Politics programme on Wednesday evening.

Haruna said affected parties would also not be allowed to substitute such candidates, arguing that parties should not benefit from violation of law.

“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 wrong thing, they thought they could now steal through candidates. And 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,” he said.

According to him, depending on when Commission concludes its review, some political parties may be unable to field candidates for some elective positions.

“All candidates, all the way to Houses of Assembly, we interviewed them. If their names are not on party register, they were not members of party at time that they contested for those tickets,” Haruna said.

He said delay in INEC’s final position was due to need to obtain legal advice after receiving Certified True Copy of Supreme Court judgment.

Haruna said Commission had to exercise caution because forged copies of court judgments had been presented in past.

“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 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),” he said.

He said Commission is expected to make definite pronouncement on implications of Supreme Court judgment by Tuesday next week.