Aspirants who defected to new political parties after losing their original party primaries may face fresh legal uncertainty ahead of the 2027 general elections, as courts continue to interpret key provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 and pending appeals involving the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Under the Electoral Act 2026, political parties are required to submit their membership registers to INEC at least 21 days before conducting primaries. Only individuals whose names appear on those registers are eligible to vote or be voted for during the primaries.
The provision has raised questions over the eligibility of politicians who contested and lost primaries in one party before defecting to another platform in search of fresh tickets.
Legal analysts say such aspirants could face challenges lawfully emerging as candidates of their new parties if their names were not included in the membership registers earlier submitted to INEC by those parties.
The controversy, however, has been complicated by a recent judgment of the Federal High Court which voided INEC’s submission deadlines for political parties. The ruling is being interpreted in some political circles as creating room for late defections and realignments ahead of the 2027 polls.
Observers say the final outcome now largely depends on the appeal filed by INEC.
If the appellate courts overturn the High Court ruling and uphold INEC’s position, defectors who moved after losing primaries may risk disqualification on the grounds that the Electoral Act’s membership register requirements remain binding.
But if the High Court judgment is sustained, affected aspirants may argue that INEC lacks the power to impose restrictive timelines beyond what is expressly provided in the Electoral Act.
Some lawyers have also pointed to a possible legal loophole. According to them, the law may only prevent a defector from participating in another party’s primary election where the individual’s name is absent from that party’s submitted register, but may not necessarily stop emergence through consensus arrangements or uncontested nominations.
Another key issue is legal standing, also known as locus standi. Nigerian courts have consistently ruled that only aspirants within a political party can challenge that party’s nomination process, a position that may make it difficult for rival parties or outsiders to successfully contest the candidacy of defectors.
Despite the legal uncertainty, many politicians who lost party primaries are reportedly continuing negotiations with alternative political platforms while awaiting a definitive interpretation of the Electoral Act by the Court of Appeal and possibly the Supreme Court.