Court Upholds Electoral Act Provision on Candidate Qualification Challenges
The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) seeking to invalidate parts of the Electoral Act 2026, describing the case as lacking merit.
In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, Justice Muhammed Umar ruled that Section 138 of the Electoral Act, which removed candidate qualification as a ground for post-election petitions, does not conflict with the 1999 Constitution.
The NDC had argued that candidate qualification should still be allowed as a basis for election petitions after elections have been concluded. However, the court held that the Constitution outlines the qualifications and disqualifications for elective offices, while the Electoral Act only provides the procedures and timelines for challenging such issues.
According to the judge, anyone who wishes to challenge the qualification of a candidate must do so during the pre-election stage, as provided by the Electoral Act.
Justice Umar stated that Section 138 complements the Constitution rather than contradicting it, adding that the NDC’s argument had no legal basis.
The court also declined to make a fresh ruling on Section 77(5) of the Electoral Act, noting that the Court of Appeal had already settled the issue, making its decision binding.
In addition, the court upheld a preliminary objection raised by the Clerk of the National Assembly, who argued that the NDC failed to serve the required pre-action notice before filing the suit.
Justice Umar agreed, ruling that the failure to comply with this legal requirement rendered the case incompetent.
He further clarified that the matter was not a pre-election case simply because the NDC attached INEC’s election timetable to its application.
The NDC had asked the court to declare that disputes over a candidate’s qualification could still be raised after an election. The defendants in the suit included the Attorney General of the Federation, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The ruling comes just weeks after the Court of Appeal struck down Sections 77(5), (6), (7), and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, ruling that they were inconsistent with the Constitution because they limited the powers of political parties to determine their membership and nominate candidates for elections.
That appellate court judgment followed a suit filed by the Zenith Party (ZP) after the same Federal High Court had earlier dismissed its challenge to those provisions of the Electoral Act.
