The Federal High Court in Abuja has thrown out a lawsuit brought by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which sought to invalidate key candidate qualification clauses within the Electoral Act 2026.
Delivering judgment on suit FHC/ABJ/CS/635/2025 on Tuesday, Justice Muhammed Umar ruled that the action lacked merit, declaring that the challenged sections of the Electoral Act complement rather than contradict the 1999 Constitution.
The NDC had mounted a legal challenge against the Attorney General of the Federation, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The party sought to have Sections 138 and 77(5) of the Electoral Act 2026 struck down as unconstitutional, contending that candidate qualification issues ought to remain open for challenge even after elections have taken place.
Dismissing the NDC’s substantive arguments, Justice Umar explained that while the Constitution sets out the actual criteria for qualification and disqualification, the Electoral Act simply establishes the procedural rules and time limits for resolving disputes arising from internal party primaries.
“The provision of Section 138 of the Electoral Act 2026 complements the provision of the Constitution, but is not in conflict with it,” Justice Umar ruled. “The contention of the plaintiff that Section 138 is inconsistent with the Constitution is of no merit.”
The judge stated that pre-election disputes must be raised strictly within the pre-election timeframe, stating that any aggrieved party intending to challenge a primary candidate on grounds of disqualification “must do so at the pre-election level.”
Addressing preliminary objections, Justice Umar noted that the NDC was simply asking the court to interpret statutory and constitutional texts. He clarified that merely appending INEC’s election timetable to the court documents did not automatically classify the case as a pre-election matter, as there was no sworn evidence questioning the schedule itself.
Furthermore, the court struck out the action against the Clerk of the National Assembly on procedural grounds, holding that the plaintiff’s failure to issue a mandatory pre-action notice rendered the suit incompetent against the second defendant.
Justice Umar also declined to set aside Section 77(5) of the Electoral Act, citing judicial precedent established by a prior Court of Appeal ruling on the same matter and reminding the court that lower benches remain bound by appellate decisions.