INEC Corrects Election Timetable Error, Shifts Key Deadline

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has again revised its timetable for the 2027 general election and extended the window for political parties to submit their membership registers following concerns that its original schedule violated the Electoral Act.

THE WHISTLER reported that Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, a federal lawmaker and constitutional lawyer representing the Ideato Federal Constituency on the platform of the Action Peoples Party (APP), had warned that INEC’s original timetable misapplied the Electoral Act.

But in a statement late Friday, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, announced that the deadline for the submission of political parties’ registers of members had been moved from April 21 to May 10, 2026.

The commission said the adjustment was made to align with the 21-day requirement prescribed by Section 77(4) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which mandates that party membership registers be submitted not later than 21 days before the date a party fixes for its primaries.

INEC said political parties remain free to conduct their primaries on any date within the approved window of April 23 to May 30, 2026, and that the new May 10 deadline is the latest possible date a party could submit its register.

The statement partly reads, “Political parties are accordingly informed that they are free to fix the dates of their primaries within the approved period from the 23rd of April 2026 to the 30th of May 2026. It is imperative that parties adhere to this timeline to ensure a smooth electoral process.

“The register of party members must be submitted to INEC not later than 21 days before the holding of their respective primaries. This means that the final deadline for the submission of political parties’ registers of members is extended to 10th May 2026, from the 21st April 2026 originally contained in the revised Timetable.”

Ugochinyere had contended that INEC wrongly calculated the 21-day window from the opening date of the primaries window rather than from the closing date of May 30.

He warned that leaving the error uncorrected could lead to the wrongful exclusion of validly nominated candidates and constituted a violation of the Electoral Act.

INEC’s previous revised timetable was issued following the enactment of the Electoral Act, 2026, which reduced the statutory notice of election period from 360 days to 300 days before polling day.

The commission scheduled presidential and National Assembly elections for January 16, 2027, and governorship and state house of assembly elections for February 6, 2027.