By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has struck down sections 77(5), (6) and (7), as well as 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, which regulate membership registers of political parties and the procedure for the nomination of candidates for the 2027 general elections.
In a unanimous decision on Thursday, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that the sections were inconsistent with provisions of sections 221 and 222 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which gave political parties the right to decide whom to sponsor in an election.
The judgment followed an appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/750/2026, which the Zenith Party (ZP) lodged against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).The panel was led by Justice Balkisu Bello Aliyu, while the lead judgment was delivered by Justice Eberechi Nyesom-Wike.
The ZP had appealed to challenge the dismissal of a suit it filed to query the constitutionality of some provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 relating to membership registers of political parties and the conduct of primary elections.
