On your marks, set, go: Parties race against May deadline for primaries

Political parties in the country have 91 days (May 30) to conduct and finalise primaries that will produce candidates following the release of a revised timetable for the 2027 elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

INEC on Thursday released the revised timetable for the 2027 general elections.

With the new arrangement, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will now take place on January 16, while the governorship and state assembly elections will be held on February 6.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Malam Mohammed Haruna, said the commission approved a revised timetable and schedule of activities following changes in the electoral law.

In the revised timetable, INEC said the conduct of party primaries, including resolution of disputes arising from primaries, will commence on April 23, 2026 and end on May 30, 2026.

According to the Electoral Act 2026, political parties are to submit their digital membership register to INEC at least 21 days to any primary, congress, or convention as non-compliance will result in disqualification from fielding candidates.

Opposition races against time, kicks against timetable 

Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the factional National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ini Ememobong, said the party was studying the timetable to enable it to find ways to meet up with the deadlines.

“There is no doubt that INEC has put opposition parties under unnecessary pressure with the new timetable and this will in turn give the APC undue advantage.

“We are studying the timetable to ensure that we do everything within our power to meet up with all the activities ahead of the deadline,” Ememobong said.

But the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress, Bolaji Abdullahi accused INEC of setting boobytraps for the opposition to aid President Bola Tinubu’s plot to be returned unopposed in 2027.

Abdullahi said with the revised timetable, opposition parties might fail to meet up with INEC deadlines and might be unable to produce candidates for the election.

“They (INEC) just want to coronate Asiwaju (Tinubu); it is as simple as that. We have reviewed the new INEC timetable and we know that it is designed to coronate Asiwaju.

“The new timetable is part of the self-perpetuation plan because we know that there is no way the opposition political parties can meet up with any of these deadlines.

“We are expected to complete and produce a digital membership registrar by the end of March. We are to conduct our congresses between March and April. By the end of April, we must have our candidates, but how do we achieve all that? And these candidates must be produced through direct primaries which means that we must organise elections and in-between we must do our congresses, how does this make sense? How is that possible?

“What INEC has done with this timetable and these deadlines is to create a situation that will make it impossible for the opposition parties to contest in the election in 2027 and it is unacceptable,” Abdullahi said.

He further said the requirement for political parties to submit a comprehensive digital membership register by April 2 ahead of primaries scheduled between 23 April and 30 May 2026 creates a near impossible hurdle that could exclude other parties from fielding candidates.

“The ADC has joined other opposition political parties to reject the corrupted Electoral Act 2026. This INEC timetable, based on the said law, therefore stands equally rejected for the same reason that, put together, they appear designed to serve President Tinubu’s automatic self-succession project,” Abdullahi added.

Also reacting, the New Nigeria Peoples Party lamented that the revised timetable had put opposition parties at a disadvantaged position.

Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the National Publicity Secretary of NNPP, Dipo Johnson described the revised timetable as an attempt by Tinubu and INEC to deny the opposition parties the opportunity to adequately prepare for the election.

“The opposition is at great disadvantage with the new INEC timetable and deadlines. It has put the opposition in a disadvantaged position.

“The APC knows very well that they only have one candidate for the presidential position. That is why they are more than eager to do this, hoping that it will negatively affect the preparedness of the smaller parties or the opposition parties.

“Illegally, I believe they have removed indirect primaries; this is an overreach. It is an overreach for them to put their hands in the parties and say you have to do it this way knowing fully well that it might be difficult for parties to reach consensus and it will be too costly for a majority of parties to have direct primaries everywhere in the country at the same time.

“This is an obvious further attempt to disrupt the preparedness of the opposition. No one is fooled by what they have done. They can continue to say all sorts of things but we are rejecting the new timetable,” Johnson said.

Also, a former presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, rejected the adjusted schedule, describing it as an overreach of INEC’s powers.

According to him, the electoral body does not possess the constitutional authority to dictate when political parties should conduct their primaries beyond ensuring compliance with statutory deadlines for submission of candidates.

“It’s not the business of INEC to dictate to parties when they should conduct nominations of candidates for elections.