INEC Meets With Parties, Defends Appeal Against Primaries Deadlines Judgments

CHAIRMAN of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, on Tuesday, June 9, defended the Commission’s decision to appeal the recent court judgment on its powers to set a timetable for elections, including timelines for pre-election activities for political parties, such as the conduct of primaries and submission of the lists of candidates.
In his opening remark at a meeting, held alongside INEC’s national commissioners, in Abuja, with chairmen and secretaries of political parties, 11 days to the Ekiti governorship election, Amupitan pointed to inconsistencies in two recent courts rulings upholding its powers to issue the election timetable and another striking down such powers; hence the decision to seek clearer judicial interpretation omn the matter.
The engagement was to review preparations for the June 20 poll and enable it and the political parties put finishing touches on preparations for the election.
He said the Commission had filed appeals against both decisions and taken the necessary legal steps to obtain authoritative pronouncements from the appellate court, adding that activities contained in the timetable were not isolated events, but interrelated operational processes essential to the orderly conduct of elections.
Amupitan listed critical electoral activities for which the Electoral Act prescribed no express statutory timelines, but which must nonetheless be accommodated within the overall electoral calendar.
He listed these to include the submission and verification of party membership registers; monitoring of party primaries across the federation; pre-upload of primary results on the Commission’s portal; printing of ballot papers and result sheets; quality assurance procedures; configuration of BVAS machines; and compliance with statutory obligations, such as inviting political parties to inspect election materials, pursuant to Section 42 of the Electoral Act 2026.
According to him: “The Commission, therefore, considers it imperative that all electoral activities be harmonised within a coherent and workable framework that promotes certainty, transparency, administrative efficiency and equal treatment of all political parties.”
He assured the public that, notwithstanding the pending appeals, INEC remained firmly committed to conducting next year’s general elections in strict compliance with the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2026.