Supreme Court Reserves Judgment On INEC, Electoral Act Dispute

The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), challenging a Court of Appeal judgment which voided some provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.

The affected provisions relate to political party membership registers and the methods parties can use to nominate candidates for elections.

Naija News reports that a seven-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Adamu Jauro, reserved judgment on Wednesday after hearing arguments from the parties in the appeal.

The case is marked SC/CR/495/2026.

INEC, represented by Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN, is the appellant, while the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), represented by Ikechukwu Anyalewechhi, is the respondent.

The dispute began after the ZLP approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge parts of the Electoral Act 2026.

The party argued that the disputed provisions were inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution and amounted to interference in the internal affairs of political parties.

The original suit, marked FHC/ABJ/509/2026, was heard by Justice Mohammed Garba Umar, who dismissed the party’s case in a judgment delivered on May 5, 2026.

Dissatisfied with the decision, the ZLP appealed to the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CV/750/2026.

The Court of Appeal later allowed the appeal in part and voided the disputed provisions in a judgment delivered on July 16, 2026.

The sections at the centre of the case are Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026.

Sections 77(5), 77(6) and 77(7) deal with the submission and use of political parties’ membership registers.

Section 77(5) provides that only members whose names appear in the membership register submitted to INEC within the required period can participate in party primaries, congresses and conventions.

Section 77(6) prevents parties from using another membership register for such activities, while Section 77(7) deals with the eligibility of parties that fail to submit their registers within the stipulated period.

Section 84(2), on the other hand, provides for direct primaries or consensus as methods for political parties to nominate candidates.

The ZLP had argued that the provisions were inconsistent with Sections 221 and 222 of the 1999 Constitution, which provide the constitutional framework for political parties.

The party maintained that the Electoral Act could not impose conditions that interfered with the constitutional powers of political parties to manage their internal affairs, including membership and candidate selection.

The Court of Appeal agreed with the party and declared the disputed provisions unconstitutional, prompting INEC to approach the Supreme Court.

The apex court is now expected to determine whether the Court of Appeal was right to void the provisions or whether the requirements contained in the Electoral Act should remain in force.