In the aftermath of party primaries held across the 22 registered political parties in Nigeria between April 23 and May 30, 2026, the parties are now trying to resolve issues arising from the exercise. While many aspirants who felt shortchanged in the nomination process have petitioned the party-primaries appeal committees, others have gone to court to ventilate their grievances, while some others have defected to other parties with the hope of picking the party ticket. A political party ticket is the most sought-after by Nigerian politicians at this point.
As political parties compile the list of winners in their party primaries for the upcoming nomination to the Independent National Electoral Commission, the electoral management body has said that access codes will be given to the designated party officials to upload candidates’ particulars for the 2027 general election on its portal between June 26 and July 11, 2026. Currently, many of the parties are also finalising the nomination of running mates for their presidential and gubernatorial candidates. That’s why a lot of lobbying is going on by aspirants to political offices across the country. Will President Bola Tinubu retain Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate for the 2027 presidential election?
In a June 9, 2026, submission at the INEC quarterly consultative meeting with political parties, the Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council, Alhaji Yusuf Dantalle, blamed the Electoral Act 2026 for the shoddy and suboptimal party primaries that political parties conducted. He said, “The conduct of these primaries exposed significant legal, administrative, and operational challenges that deserve urgent national attention.”
He said further, “The experience of the just-concluded nomination exercise demonstrates that the removal of indirect primaries created considerable constraints for political parties. In many instances, parties adopted the consensus option despite the existence of multiple aspirants who had duly purchased expression of interest and nomination forms. Several aspirants were persuaded, and in some cases pressured, to withdraw from the contest after preferred candidates had already been identified by influential party stakeholders. While some aspirants accepted these arrangements in the interest of party unity, others challenged their exclusion, arguing that genuine consensus requires the voluntary agreement of all contestants. Consequently, several disputes have found their way to the courts, creating uncertainty and avoidable tension within the political system.
“Furthermore, the enormous financial and logistical demands associated with direct primaries presented significant challenges, particularly for political parties that do not control governmental resources. Faced with these realities, some parties adopted extraordinary measures to avoid circumstances that could necessitate direct primaries. In some cases, nomination forms were not made widely available to prospective aspirants. In others, congress and primary election schedules were not publicly announced in a timely manner to minimise potential disputes.”
On Friday, June 12, 2026, Nigeria celebrated its Democracy Day with a public holiday and speeches. In the course of time, seven general elections have been held, and the eighth one is due in seven months’ time. President Bola Tinubu, in his national broadcast, said inter alia that “For 27 unbroken years, since May 29, 1999, Nigerians have chosen their leaders through the ballot, witnessed peaceful transitions of power, and resolved disagreements in courtrooms and legislative chambers—not through violence. We have experienced the longest stretch of civilian rule in our history. Our democracy is not perfect, but it is ours, and we must continue to defend and strengthen it.”
He said further, “In the coming days, Ekiti and Osun States will hold elections. I urge INEC, security agencies, and all parties to ensure these polls are peaceful and credible. Democracy fails when citizens doubt the process. To our National Assembly, judiciary, the press, and civil society: you are the guardrails of our republic. Criticise me, disagree with me, but never stop believing in Nigeria.” To young Nigerians, he said, “Nigeria is your home and your future. Build here, code here, work here, and vote here. Every great nation was built by those who stayed to solve problems, not by those who abandoned ship.”
The President gave his scorecard on the security and the economy. He gave kudos to our soldiers, police and members of the security community, saying that the highest budgetary allocation of N5.41tn was earmarked for security and defence in the 2026 budget. It is unknown how much of this sum has been released to the police, intelligence community and armed forces to enable them tackle the lingering insecurity. I also found it a factual error on the part of the president to have said that terror-related deaths are down by 81 percent since 2015. The over 13,000 terrorists that the President said have been neutralised in the past year, as well as the 124,000 fighters and dependents that have laid down their arms since 2023 through Operation Safe Corridor, mean nothing to average Nigerians if bandits and kidnappers are still on the rampage in our communities.
The rising cost of living being experienced by Nigerians also makes the so much economic freedom the president said he’s working on to sound like Greek to us. People want to be able to pay their bills with ease and live a decent lifestyle, not being given false hope of a better tomorrow. The president needs to work harder to reduce poverty and unemployment in order to enjoy accolades from Nigerians.
The Ekiti State governorship election comes up this weekend (June 20) across 16 local government areas, 177 wards and 2,445 polling units. There are 13 candidates that will be on the ballot, but it is looking like a one-horse race as the ranks of opposition parties in the state are fragmented, and none of them can match the incumbent Governor Biodun Oyebanji, popularly known as BAO. Unlike in 2022 when it was a three-horse race among Oyebanji, Bisi Kolawole of the People’s Democratic Party and former Governor Segun Oni, who then contested under Social Democratic Party, this fourth off-cycle governorship election in Ekiti will be a referendum and coronation for the incumbent.
As I said on the Arise News TV breakfast show last Sunday, Oyebanji enjoys the power of incumbency, belongs to the ruling party at the centre, which is the All Progressives Congress and has also been endorsed by all former governors in Ekiti State, namely, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Ayo Fayose, Engineer Segun Oni, and Dr Kayode Fayemi. He has made modest achievements in terms of infrastructural development and peace in Ekiti State.
INEC will do well to ensure that the election commence on schedule on Saturday and that accreditation, voting, sorting, counting, announcement of results and declaration of the winner are done without a hitch. Uploading of results on the INEC Result Viewing Portal should be without glitches.
INEC chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan’s readiness to give Nigerians credible 2027 general elections will be measured by his performance in Ekiti and Osun off-cycle governorship polls.
Finally, the most mentioned name in Nigeria’s political cycle since Monday, June 15, 2026, is Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja. The jurist had asked INEC to deregister five political parties namely: African Democratic Congress, Accord Party, Action Peoples Party, Action Alliance and Zenith Labour Party and those parties are not taking it lying low. This deregistration which I heard is being ordered despite the Court of Appeal ruling for a stay of proceedings till October 2027, will not augur well for our politics and future elections. It will affect Governor Ademola Adeleke in Osun State, who is seeking reelection on August 15, 2026.
According to Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi in his press statement, the facts are straightforward. “The plaintiffs had argued that the ADC and four other political parties failed to satisfy constitutional requirements relating to continued registration. However, in its counter-affidavit filed before the court in May, INEC, the constitutional body empowered with the registration, regulation, and supervision of political parties in Nigeria, categorically maintained that the ADC had not violated any registration requirements, had not failed any constitutional electoral-performance threshold, and that no legally recognised basis existed for its deregistration.” Need I say more?
I.G: @jideojong
