INEC meeting: Defections raise fresh questions over 2027 candidacies

All eyes will be on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday as it convenes a national stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, 100 days before the 2027 general elections.

The meeting is expected to provide updates on the voters’ register, candidate nominations, election logistics and measures being implemented to safeguard the integrity of the polls.

It could also provide fresh insight into the eligibility of several high-profile politicians who changed political parties ahead of the elections.

Among the candidates attracting attention are Rivers State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kingsley Chinda; Delta Central senatorial candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Ovie Omo-Agege; former Cross River State governor and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) presidential candidate, Donald Duke; and former Delta State House of Assembly Speaker, Victor Ochei.

The controversy follows a Supreme Court judgment that restored key provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 dealing with political party membership registers and candidate nominations.

In its unanimous judgment delivered on September 25, the apex court upheld INEC’s appeal and restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Act, which had earlier been struck down by the Court of Appeal.

The development has raised questions over politicians who defected after their former parties had concluded, or were already conducting, nomination exercises.

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The legal uncertainty began after a Federal High Court judgment in May invalidated aspects of INEC’s timetable, including deadlines for party primaries, candidate submissions and membership registers.

However, the Court of Appeal overturned the judgment on July 16 and restored INEC’s timetable, before the Supreme Court subsequently reinstated the disputed provisions of the Electoral Act.

Chinda, an ally of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, emerged as the APC governorship candidate in Rivers on May 21, shortly after the Federal High Court ruling.

In Delta, Omo-Agege lost the APC Delta Central senatorial primary to Ede Dafinone before resigning from the party on May 22.

He later joined the NDC, obtained a waiver and secured its Delta Central ticket through a consensus arrangement.

Ochei similarly left the APC, joined the NDC, received a waiver and emerged as the party’s Delta North senatorial candidate.

Although INEC has not indicated that any candidate will be disqualified at Tuesday’s meeting, its position could offer clues on the fate of candidates whose emergence followed controversial defections, waivers or party primaries.

A human rights lawyer, Maximus Ugwuoke, however, cautioned against assuming that the Supreme Court judgment automatically invalidated such nominations.

Ugwuoke said INEC would have to examine each case based on the law applicable when the primary was conducted, the party’s membership register, the procedure adopted and relevant statutory timelines.

“The Supreme Court judgment should not be interpreted as automatically invalidating all nominations or disqualifying all candidates whose primaries were conducted while the affected provisions of the Electoral Act were inoperative,” he said.

He warned that a blanket cancellation of nominations could not be inferred from the judgment.

“In short, the Supreme Court has restored the statutory rules; it has not automatically declared every previously concluded nomination invalid,” Ugwuoke added.