The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue and alter election timetables for the conduct of elections, even as the electoral body appeals an earlier judgment nullifying parts of its revised guidelines for the 2027 general elections.
Justice James Omotosho, while delivering judgment on Tuesday in a suit filed by the Social Democratic Party in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/720/2026, held that INEC was constitutionally empowered to issue election timetables and schedules of activities for elections.
The judge, however, ruled that while the commission possesses such powers, it must exercise them strictly within the timelines prescribed by the Electoral Act, 2026.
The SDP had, in an originating summons filed on April 9, raised five questions for determination, including “whether having regard to Sections 82 and 84(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, the defendant’s powers to receive notices, attend, observe and monitor party primaries extend to fixing or prescribing the timetable within which political parties must conduct their primaries.”
The party sought seven reliefs, among them an order restraining INEC from enforcing timelines allegedly inconsistent with the Electoral Act, 2026.
