The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why it appealed two recent Federal High Court judgements that questioned parts of its timetable for the 2027 General Election, saying the rulings could create uncertainty and disrupt the orderly conduct of elections across the country.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), made the position known on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, during the Second Quarterly Consultative Meeting with leaders of political parties at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Amupitan explained that the commission decided to challenge the court decisions because electoral activities are closely connected and must operate within a single coordinated timetable.
He said the absence of harmonised timelines could affect INEC’s constitutional responsibility to organise credible elections and create confusion for political parties, candidates and other stakeholders.
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The first judgement, delivered on May 20 in the case of Youth Party v. INEC, questioned certain timelines contained in the commission’s election schedule.
A second ruling, delivered on May 26 in Social Democratic Party (SDP) v. INEC, affirmed INEC’s authority to issue an electoral timetable but struck down some timelines relating to the nomination and substitution of candidates.
Amupitan said both judgements raised important legal questions about the extent of INEC’s powers under the Constitution and the Electoral Act. For that reason, he said the commission had approached the appellate courts to obtain clear and authoritative interpretations of the law.
He explained that several critical election-related activities have no specific timelines stated in the Electoral Act but still require proper planning and coordination.
These include the submission and verification of party membership registers, monitoring of party primaries, uploading of primary election results, printing of ballot papers and result sheets, quality assurance checks, configuration of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and inspection of election materials by political parties.
“The Commission therefore considers it imperative that all electoral activities be harmonised within a coherent and workable framework,” Amupitan said.
While the legal process continues, the INEC chairman assured Nigerians that preparations for upcoming elections remain on track.
He disclosed that the voter register for the Ekiti State governorship election scheduled for June 20 contains 1,059,360 registered voters.
The figure includes 66,664 new registrants added through the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, while 2,103 cases of double registration were removed from the register.
He said logistics, technology deployment and the training of election officials were progressing according to plan.
INEC, he added, remains committed to opening all 2,445 polling units across Ekiti’s 16 local government areas simultaneously at 8:30 a.m. on election day.
The commission will also conduct bye-elections in six constituencies on the same day, including three senatorial districts and three legislative seats spread across Enugu, Nasarawa, Rivers, Ondo, Kano and Kebbi states.
Amupitan said the same security measures and technological safeguards planned for Ekiti would be applied to the bye-elections.
Looking ahead to the 2027 General Election, he announced that political parties would receive access codes on June 26 for INEC’s Candidate Nomination Portal, through which candidate details will be submitted electronically.
He warned that the system would close automatically at the end of the nomination period without any extension.
The commission’s decision to appeal the court judgments received support from the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC). Its National Chairman, Dr. Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, said the conflicting rulings had created uncertainty within the political system.
He also urged lawmakers to review aspects of the Electoral Act 2026, particularly provisions governing party primaries, noting that some sections had contributed to disputes now being contested in court.
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