Supreme Court Upholds INEC Appeal, Says Electoral Act Provisions Constitutional

The Supreme Court has upheld the appeal filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission against the Court of Appeal judgment which voided provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 relating to political party primaries and membership registers.

A seven-man panel of the apex court, presided over by Justice Adamu Jauro, held that Sections 77(5) and 84 of the Electoral Act are not in conflict with the 1999 Constitution.

The court consequently set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had ruled in favour of the Zenith Labour Party, and upheld the judgment of the trial court.

The apex court also awarded N2m costs against the respondent, ZLP.

INEC had appealed against the July 16, 2026 judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which had allowed ZLP’s appeal in part and voided provisions of the Electoral Act relating to political party primaries and membership registers.

The original suit, marked FHC/ABJ/509/2026, was filed by ZLP at the Federal High Court, Abuja, challenging Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026.

Sections 77(5), 77(6) and 77(7) concern the statutory requirements relating to political parties’ membership registers, while Section 84(2) prescribes direct primaries or consensus as methods for the nomination of candidates by political parties.

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

The Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Mohammed Umar, dismissed the suit in a judgment delivered on May 5, 2026.

Dissatisfied with the decision, ZLP appealed to the Court of Appeal, which subsequently delivered its judgment on July 16, 2026.

INEC, dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal’s decision, subsequently approached the Supreme Court.

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Meanwhile, the apex court also delivered judgments in separate appeals filed by the Social Democratic Party and the Youth Party against the electoral commission.

In the appeal filed by the Social Democratic Party, the court heard the matter on its merit and dismissed the appeal.

In the Youth Party’s appeal, the Supreme Court upheld INEC’s preliminary objection and struck out the appeal for being incompetent.

The court held that the Youth Party’s appeal was filed one day outside the prescribed time.