The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, has explained the Commission’s decision to appeal two recent Federal High Court judgments concerning aspects of its timetable for the 2027 General Election, saying the rulings could create uncertainty and disrupt the effective coordination of electoral activities.
Speaking on Tuesday at the Second Quarterly Consultative Meeting with Leaders of Political Parties held at INEC headquarters in Abuja, Amupitan said the Commission sought appellate court clarification on critical legal questions surrounding its constitutional and statutory powers to regulate and coordinate electoral processes.
According to him, one of the judgments, delivered on May 20, 2026, in the case of Youth Party v. INEC, questioned certain timelines contained in the Commission’s electoral timetable. A second judgment, delivered on May 26, 2026, in Social Democratic Party (SDP) v. INEC, affirmed INEC’s authority to issue an election timetable but struck down some timelines relating to the nomination and substitution of candidates.
“These judgments raise important legal questions concerning the extent of the Commission’s constitutional and statutory powers in coordinating and regulating electoral activities,” Amupitan said.
The INEC chairman explained that the Commission had already filed appeals against both decisions and taken the necessary legal steps to obtain definitive interpretations from higher courts.
He stressed that electoral activities are interconnected and cannot be treated as isolated events, warning that the absence of a harmonised timetable could undermine election planning and administration.
“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 stated.
Amupitan noted that several key electoral processes are not assigned specific timelines under the Electoral Act but must still be accommodated within the overall election calendar. These include the submission and verification of party membership registers, monitoring of party primaries nationwide, uploading primary results to the Commission’s portal, printing ballot papers and result sheets, conducting quality assurance checks, configuring BVAS devices, and facilitating the inspection of election materials by political parties.
Despite the pending legal proceedings, he assured political parties and the public that INEC remains committed to conducting the 2027 General Election in full compliance with the Constitution and the Electoral Act.
“The Commission remains firmly committed to conducting the 2027 General Election in strict compliance with the Constitution and the Electoral Act,” he said.
Turning to preparations for the forthcoming Ekiti State governorship election scheduled for June 20, 2026, the INEC chairman disclosed that the state’s voter register now contains 1,059,360 registered voters.
According to him, the figure reflects the addition of 66,664 new registrants through the Continuous Voter Registration exercise to the 2023 register of 987,647 voters, while 2,103 cases of double registration were identified and removed to safeguard the integrity of the register.
Amupitan also assured stakeholders that logistics deployment, technology preparations and the training of election personnel were progressing according to schedule.
“We remain committed to the simultaneous opening of all 2,445 Polling Units across the 16 Local Government Areas of Ekiti State at 8:30 a.m. on Election Day,” he said.
The consultative meeting formed part of INEC’s ongoing engagement with political parties ahead of future electoral activities and the 2027 General Election.