The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially appealed a significant judgment delivered by a Federal High Court in Abuja, which nullified key aspects of its revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general elections. On Monday, May 25, INEC filed a notice of appeal along with a motion for a stay of execution of the judgment, which was handed down by Justice Mohammed Umar.

Last Wednesday, the Federal High Court had invalidated INEC's prescribed timelines for the conduct of party primaries and the subsequent submission of candidates for the upcoming 2027 polls. Justice Umar’s ruling asserted that INEC lacked the constitutional and statutory authority to "fix or prescribe the timetable within which political parties may conduct their primary elections for the purpose of nominating candidates for the 2027 general elections." The judge explicitly stated that the powers granted to the commission under Sections 29, 82, and 84(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, did not extend to determining specific timelines for political party primaries. This pivotal judgment arose from a suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/517/2026, which was filed on March 11 by the Youth Party (YP).

Under INEC's now-nullified revised timetable, political parties were initially required to submit their membership registers by May 10 and were expected to conduct their primaries, along with completing withdrawals and replacements of candidates, before the end of May. The court's decision consequently led to an effective extension of the deadline for parties to submit updated membership registers and related documents, pushing it back until September 2026.

INEC, through its legal team led by Chief Alex Izinyon, SAN, presented nine grounds for its appeal. The commission argued that the trial judge erred in law by failing to determine whether the suit was hypothetical and academic, a failure that, according to INEC, amounted to a denial of fair hearing. Furthermore, INEC contended that the lower court wrongly interpreted Sections 29(1), 82, and 84 of the Electoral Act, 2026, by adopting what it described as a narrow interpretation. The commission also argued that the trial court failed to apply the provisions of Section 151 of the Electoral Act, 2026, to the specifics of the case.

The electoral body is now seeking an order from the appellate court to allow its appeal and set aside the judgment delivered on May 20. Additionally, INEC has asked the Court of Appeal to strike out the suit entirely, asserting that the Youth Party lacked the necessary locus standi (legal standing) to institute and maintain the case, thereby characterizing the matter as merely academic.

Justice Umar's judgment had meticulously detailed various inconsistencies between INEC's timetable and the Electoral Act, 2026. He held that, according to Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, which mandates political parties to submit particulars of their candidates not later than 120 days before an election, INEC could not lawfully abridge or limit this statutory period by prescribing a shorter timeframe. Similarly, citing Section 31, which allows parties to withdraw and substitute candidates not later than 90 days before an election, the court found that INEC lacked the power to impose an earlier deadline for these actions. The judge further ruled that under Section 32, INEC did not possess the statutory authority to publish the final list of candidates for the 2027 general election before the minimum 60-day period prescribed by law. Declarations were also made that INEC lacked the statutory authority to fix campaign endings two days before elections, as per Section 98, and that the timeframe for submitting membership registers for primaries, as prescribed by INEC, was not applicable to primaries held for replacing withdrawn candidates, as per Section 33.

Consequently, the Federal High Court issued an order "setting aside or nullifying the time-frames imposed by the defendant in its Revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for 2027 General Election for the conduct of primary elections by political parties, the submission of personal particulars of candidates, the withdrawal and replacement of candidates, the publication of the final list of candidates, and campaigning for the 2027 general elections, all of which were deemed inconsistent with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026."