Fresh legal challenges may emerge over the validity of some political party primaries ahead of the 2027 elections following the Supreme Court’s restoration of key provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
The apex court, in a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday in appeal No. SC/CR/495/2026, restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Act. The seven-member panel was led by Justice Adamu Jauro.
The provisions require political parties to submit their membership registers to the Independent National Electoral Commission within the stipulated period and use the registers for conducting primaries. Section 84(2) also provides for direct primaries or consensus in the nomination of candidates.
The ruling overturned the July 16 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had declared the disputed provisions unconstitutional.
However, the judgment did not specifically invalidate completed nominations, leaving questions over how the restored provisions will apply to primaries that have already been conducted and candidates who moved between political parties before securing tickets.
Among the nominations that could attract legal scrutiny are those of former Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, who emerged as the Social Democratic Party governorship candidate in Nasarawa State through a substitution primary; former House of Representatives Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, who emerged as the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Rivers State; and Senator Saliu Mustapha, who defected from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party before securing the PDP senatorial ticket for Kwara Central.
Former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, is also facing a separate legal challenge after a Federal High Court in Gombe nullified the PDP primary that produced him and ordered a fresh exercise.
None of the candidates was specifically disqualified by the Supreme Court judgment.
The PDP has already scheduled September 29 for a fresh governorship primary in Gombe State following the September 24 judgment of the Federal High Court, which nullified the party’s May 26 primary that produced Pantami.
Pantami emerged from the earlier primary through voice affirmation after defecting from the APC to the PDP. His emergence was challenged by another PDP governorship aspirant, Usman Garry.
The PDP Public Relations Officer in Gombe State, Abdulkadir Dukku, said eligible delegates had been directed to assemble at their respective ward areas for the fresh exercise. The party also urged members, supporters and well-wishers to cooperate with the arrangements and maintain peace and order.
The fresh primary is expected to produce the PDP candidate for the Gombe governorship election.
Meanwhile, the Senator representing Osun East in the Senate, Olubiyi Fadeyi, has rejected claims that the Supreme Court judgment had ended his bid for re-election.
Fadeyi said in a statement issued in Osogbo on Saturday that the process through which he became the PDP candidate for the Osun Central Senatorial District in the 2027 election complied with the Constitution, Electoral Act and the party’s rules.
He described reports of his disqualification as speculative, insisting that no court had disqualified him and that his candidacy had been affirmed by the relevant party structures.
Legal practitioners have also differed on the possible effect of the Supreme Court judgment on completed nominations.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former Attorney-General of Kwara State, Salman Jawondo, said the ruling did not automatically affect nominations that had already been concluded.
Jawondo said INEC could not use the judgment alone to remove candidates whose nominations had been completed, arguing that any challenge would require a fresh court process brought by a person with the necessary legal standing and within the applicable timeframe.
Another SAN, Bolaji Ayorinde, said the judgment did not create a new basis for disqualifying candidates or disrupt preparations by political parties.
Ayorinde said the Supreme Court had reaffirmed the constitutional framework governing eligibility to contest elections and urged INEC to implement the judgment without disenfranchising candidates or parties.
However, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikirun Branch, Osun State, Abdulkareem Azeez, said the judgment could have implications for individual candidates depending on the circumstances of their nominations.
Azeez said the Supreme Court had only affirmed the constitutional validity of Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2), without determining the membership status, conduct of primaries or defection timelines of individual politicians.
He noted that candidates such as Pantami and Adamu were not parties to the suit and that the court did not determine whether their names appeared on the relevant party registers within the period prescribed by law.
According to Azeez, INEC would have to apply the restored provisions to individual cases, while disputes could ultimately be determined by the courts.
Potential issues, he said, include whether candidates were listed on the relevant party membership register at least 21 days before their primaries, whether the primaries complied with the law and whether any questions arose from participation in more than one party.
He added that whether the restored provisions could apply retrospectively would depend on the facts of each case.
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