INEC States Courts Will Decide Candidate Eligibility Issues

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that the courts are the final authority on the eligibility of candidates omitted from the recently published governorship and Assembly list. Mohammed Haruna, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, emphasized that aggrieved candidates must act within a 14-day window to resolve eligibility complaints.

He clarified that INEC did not disqualify candidates; rather, political parties disqualified themselves by failing to meet constitutional requirements, as mandated by a Supreme Court ruling. The original deadline for submitting membership registers was April 21, extended to May 10.

If candidates' names were absent from the submitted register, the parties were deemed unqualified to field those candidates. Dr Monday Ubani, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, asserted that the power to determine candidates lies with the courts, not INEC, and highlighted that the Supreme Court ruling does not authorize automatic disqualification based on the Electoral Act 2026.