Parties must submit registers 21 days before primaries — SAN

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Oba Maduabuchi SAN, has said political parties must submit their membership registers to the Independent National Electoral Commission at least 21 days before conducting primaries, following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.

aMaduabuchi, who described the Supreme Court’s decision as “perfect”, said the ruling affirmed INEC’s constitutional authority in the conduct and supervision of elections.

He made the remarks in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday while discussing the apex court’s September 24 judgment, which restored provisions of the Electoral Act relating to political party membership registers and the nomination of candidates.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision by a seven-member panel, set aside the Court of Appeal judgment that had voided the provisions and restored the decision of the Federal High Court.

Under the restored provisions, only members whose names appear on a party’s membership register submitted to INEC at least 21 days before a primary, congress or convention can participate in the exercise. The law also requires parties to use the submitted register and provides consequences for failure to submit it within the stipulated period.

Maduabuchi said the requirement did not amount to interference in the internal affairs of political parties.

“If you don’t submit the register, you will not have candidates. We must interpret the decision of the Supreme Court vis-à-vis the provisions of the Constitution which gave INEC the power to organise, undertake and supervise elections. So, if INEC must organise and the law says give them your membership register, I don’t think there is anything unconstitutional about that,” he said.

He explained that political parties remained responsible for determining their membership, while INEC needed the registers to know who was eligible to participate in party primaries.

“It does not determine who is a member of a political party. Determination of who is a member of a political party is in the hands of the political parties. But when you have decided who is your political party, tell me who they are. So, when I am organising my election, I will know who I am dealing with. That is just a simple thing the Supreme Court said,” he said.

Maduabuchi also said parties remained free to determine how their candidates would emerge, provided they complied with the law.

“When you want to select or however, whatever you call it, your candidates, do it openly so that everybody will see what you have done, either directly or by consensus. These are the two things that the Supreme Court said. Anybody saying they are unconstitutional is wrong,” he said.

He said the Supreme Court judgment could have implications for those who acted based on the earlier Court of Appeal decision, noting that the apex court’s judgment was delivered by a seven-member panel.

“And if anybody had acted pursuant to the Court of Appeal decision, it would be unfortunate, because they are now caught by this Supreme Court decision. And it is a judgment of the full court. Seven justices. In other words, you need seven justices to set it aside,” he said.

Maduabuchi disagreed with concerns that the judgment undermined the autonomy of political parties.

“I don’t seem to agree with you. Because it does not tell you how you become a member of a political party. The Supreme Court never said anything about that,” he said.

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He said the provisions allowing direct primaries or consensus could also help reduce the influence of money in party politics.

“The reason is very simple. We want to wipe out money politics from Nigeria. If you have delegates, big men buy up the delegates and the will of the masses, the will of the people does not prevail. But when they say everybody should come out and elect the candidate of their choice, even though it has its own shortfalls, but I think it accounts more with democracy than by using delegates, which has been the position before,” he said.

On the 21-day requirement, Maduabuchi said parties were required to notify INEC in advance but that the requirement did not give the commission control over the parties’ internal affairs.

“If you want to elect, you decide how you want to elect, you decide who your chairman is, you decide who your members are. The law says if you have made that decision, tell me 21 days before you do your primary, let me know who your members are. That is not interfering with anybody’s internal affairs. And you must let me know 21 days. And it didn’t tell us what and how to arrive at that. So I don’t see how it’s an interference,” he said.

On whether the judgment would have a retroactive effect on candidates who had already conducted their primaries, Maduabuchi said the relevant law at the time an issue arose would have to be considered.

“The judgment takes effect the day the suit was filed. And what we are declaring is the law as it is today. What was the position of the law as it was when they took, when the primaries were conducted? That is the law you’re interpreting. If the law is as the Supreme Court has said it is today, that is the law that will apply. It is not a matter of retrospective or not prospective,” he said.

However, Maduabuchi declined to determine whether particular politicians, including Chinda and Peter Obi, would be affected by the ruling without access to the relevant party records.

“Chinda is not on the ballot. No, I cannot say that because one, I don’t know when he joined the political party. Two, I don’t know when they sent the register to INEC. These are two very important things. Actually, I don’t know whether the name of Chinda is in the register of political parties submitted by APC,” he said.

He added that the same limitation applied to other politicians whose eligibility might be questioned.

“I cannot now get up and say Chinda is no longer, will not be on the ballot. The Kwara Central senatorial aspirant will not be on the ballot. Peter Obi who left ADC for NDC, I can’t say that because I’ve not seen their registers. I don’t know when they submitted them and I don’t know what names are there,” he said.

Maduabuchi also rejected suggestions that the 21-day requirement was a new development that had caught political parties unprepared.

“No, it is not. It is not sudden. The law was made and I think it was passed early this year and everybody knew what the law was. That is why they even went to court to challenge it,” he said.

He said the requirement for advance notice to INEC had also been raised in previous electoral disputes.

“The question of 21 days’ notice to INEC has been there. I think I raised it first in 2011 or 2012. I said they didn’t give enough notice and I went to court. So the question of 21 days is not new at all,” Maduabuchi said.