The National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mohammed Haruna, has said opposition parties are entitled to criticise the revised 2027 election timetable.
Naija News reports that Haruna made the remarks on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, in response to concerns raised by opposition parties about the new schedule.
He maintained that the commission acted strictly within the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Haruna said, “I am not an IT expert, but with the little I know, there’s no difficulty in doing that (registering their members within the stipulated time). They are entitled to their opinion. It is the law of the land. INEC does not have the pleasure of rejecting any law. We have to be guided by it.
“We need to work within what the law says. It is not our fault, it is what the law prescribes, and we have to abide.”
Haruna suggested that opposition parties ought to have anticipated the changes, noting that they have representation in the National Assembly.
“For the opposition parties, the question is possible. They might not be the majority, but they have influence. They should have anticipated it. They have members in the House, and they should have done it in the way they would have provided a level playing ground for everybody,” he stated.
Opposition parties have argued that the timeline and requirements under the amended Electoral Act could disadvantage them ahead of the 2027 polls.
Speaking further, Haruna expressed concern about funding constraints, noting that the commission’s 2026 budget had not yet been approved.
“We are bothered by tight schedules because the budget has not been approved. For our money to be released, it is six months and that’s tough. A lot of things we require are not available officially. The printing of our ballot papers takes time,” he said.
The commission had recently fixed January 16, 2027, for the presidential and National Assembly elections, and February 6, 2027, for governorship and state Houses of Assembly polls, following amendments to the Electoral Act.
