INEC Insists on Supreme Court Verdict, Says Erring Parties Won’t Field Candidates
• Insists those not in party registers at the close of regulatory time will be affected •Seeks stakeholders’ support as voters’ register display begins Oct 9 in Sokoto Chuks Okocha,
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is the body constitutionally empowered to organise elections and regulate political parties in Nigeria, including maintaining party membership registers and vetting candidate nominations before polls. Disputes over candidate nomination and party primaries frequently end up before the courts, with the Supreme Court often serving as the final arbiter when parties or aspirants challenge the validity of candidates fielded for elections — rulings that can determine whether a party's candidate stands or is replaced.
This latest standoff centres on INEC's position that it will strictly enforce a recent Supreme Court judgment affecting the status of certain candidates, insisting that only persons captured in official party registers as at the close of a regulated nomination window will be recognised, with no room for last-minute substitutions. The coverage agrees that affected parties face the real prospect of being locked out of fielding candidates, and that INEC plans to make a definitive decision on the matter in the coming days, alongside the rollout of voters' register display exercises. What remains unclear from the reports is the specific case or election at the heart of the Supreme Court ruling, the parties and candidates directly implicated, and how INEC's decision will affect electoral timelines in the affected constituencies.