By First Baba
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One of the least discussed, yet potentially most devastating legal weapons in Nigerian electoral politics today is the political party membership register as provided in the new Electoral Act, 2026.
Most aspirants are focusing on delegates, endorsements, alliances, media visibility and party structures. Very few are paying attention to the single document that may ultimately determine whether a candidacy survives judicial scrutiny: the register submitted to INEC pursuant to Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2026. This might prove to be a costly mistake.
As political parties prepare for primaries, many have already submitted their membership registers to INEC in compliance with Section 77(4) of the Act. In my view, any serious aspirant — particularly one anticipating a contentious primary — should immediately obtain a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the relevant register from INEC. Any other register, even the original copy with the political party, might simply end up being a booby trap. Reliance will certainly be placed more on the copy in the custody of INEC.
Section 77 of the Electoral Act fundamentally transforms party membership from a political question into a statutory question. The law is remarkably precise.
Section 77(5) provides that only persons whose names appear in the submitted register are eligible to vote or be voted for in party primaries, congresses and conventions.
Section 77(6) goes even further by prohibiting political parties from using any register other than the one submitted to INEC.
Then comes the nuclear provision: Section 77(7) states that a political party which fails to submit its register within the prescribed time shall not be eligible to field a candidate for the election. The implications are profound.
This means that party primaries are no longer merely internal political exercises insulated by the doctrine of non-justiciability. Once statutory conditions are imposed by the Electoral Act, compliance ceases to be discretionary. It becomes mandatory and justiciable.
Consequently, several critical legal questions may arise after a primary:
- Was the aspirant truly a member of the party as required by law?
- Was his or her name contained in the register submitted to INEC?
- Were delegates or voters at the primary actually persons listed in the authentic register?
- Did the party use a different register from the one submitted to the Commission?
- Was the register submitted within the statutory timeline?
These are not cosmetic technicalities. They go to the root of the validity of the primary itself. In high-stakes contests as our party primaries always turn out to be, the membership register may therefore become more important than the ballot papers cast on primary day.
A disciplined legal team can use the register to conduct forensic electoral due diligence before the primary even takes place. It can expose ghost memberships, unlawful substitutions, manipulated delegate lists, parallel registers and post-submission alterations.
In election litigation, documentary evidence often defeats political rhetoric. Courts are not moved by press conferences, popularity or emotional arguments. They are persuaded by statutory compliance and credible records.
That is why sophisticated aspirants should stop seeing the party register as a routine administrative document. It is potentially a shield, a sword and, in some cases, a political landmine.
One aspect of the next generation of electoral disputes in Nigeria that will be decided on the new Electoral Act may not revolve merely around who won primaries, but around whether the primary itself was legally constituted under Section 77 of the Electoral Act.
Astute politicians will prepare for that battle now — not after the damage has been done.
Written by First Baba Isa, Esq., LLB, BL, LLM, MBA, FIMC, CMC, a PhD candidate researching the topic: “Evaluating the use of technology and its legal implications to elections in Nigeria.”
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