Big setback for the National Democratic Congress in court. Its attempt to nullify key sections of the Electoral Act 2026 on candidate qualification has just been dismissed.

Here is the gist:

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday threw out the suit filed by the National Democratic Congress, NDC, challenging the qualification and disqualification rules for candidates under the Electoral Act 2026.

In his judgement on suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/635/2025, Justice Muhammed Umar said the case lacked merit. According to him, the disputed provisions do not contradict the 1999 Constitution; they actually complement it.

The NDC had dragged the Attorney General of the Federation, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and INEC to court. The party wanted the court to declare Sections 138 and 77(5) of the Electoral Act 2026 unconstitutional, and to rule that issues of candidate qualification could still be challenged even after elections.

But the court was not having it.

Justice Umar first upheld the preliminary objections against the suit. He noted that the NDC was merely asking the court to interpret the Constitution alongside the Electoral Act, and that attaching INEC’s election timetable to the court papers did not automatically make it a pre-election matter.

He also struck out the case against the Clerk of the National Assembly, holding that the NDC failed to serve the mandatory pre-action notice. That failure alone, he said, made the suit incompetent against the 2nd defendant.

On the main issues, Justice Umar was very clear. The Constitution sets out who is qualified and disqualified to contest, while the Electoral Act only provides the procedure and timeline for raising such disputes.

In other words, if you have an issue with a candidate who emerged from a party primary on grounds of disqualification, you must raise it at the pre-election stage. You cannot wait until after the election.

“The provision of Section 138 of the Electoral Act 2026 complements the provision of the Constitution, but is not in conflict with it. The contention of the plaintiff that Section 138 is inconsistent with the Constitution is of no merit,” Justice Umar ruled.

The Judge also refused to invalidate Section 77(5), noting that the Court of Appeal had already settled the matter and lower courts are bound by precedent.

Credit: cbinews.tv

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