Electoral Act 2026: The Gavel and Vindication of National Assembly

By James Nwachukwu

But for the recent unambiguous, intellectual ruling of the Supreme Court, the futility of their efforts would have been embarrassingly conspicuous.

Beyond the facade of the political arguments, the ruling saw through the parliamentary fecundity and legislative sagacity of the national Assembly, more so, the intellectual depth of the two chairmen of the Committees of the Whole in both chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The implication is that the National Assembly in the amendment of the electoral act reasoned appropriately to deepen democracy in Nigeria. This is not surrealistic but simply common knowledge.

This deep rationalization has ultimately vindicated the Parliament and conveyed an explicit sense of competency in art of lawmaking on the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu who chaired the Committees of the Whole. Incidentally and interestingly, both are of legal minds

Prior to now, what, perhaps filled the air was a biased, politically motivated parliamentary report that was targeted at the political parties especially the opposition, ultimately, to whittle down their rights and powers on their internal affairs.

Of course, this later became a subject of litigation ferociously pursued and championed by the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

However, the argument turned against the litigant when the Court of First Instance shooed them away and upheld the amendment tucked in Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 of the Electoral Act by the National Assembly.

Not satisfied, the ZLP journeyed up to the appellate court, the Court of Appeal which however showed predilection for the argument, ruling on the basis of its inconsistency with the 1999 Constitution (as amendment).

But on Thursday, September 24, 2026, in a unanimous judgment delivered by a seven-member panel led by Justice Adamu Jauro in appeal No. SC/CR/495/2026, the apex court in the land vindicated the Parliament by allowing the appeal filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the matter and restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026.

The court held that the provisions were not inconsistent with the Constitution and restored the earlier judgment of the Federal High Court that had dismissed the suit by the Zenith Labour Party.

It also set aside the Court of Appeal judgment of July 16, 2026 that had voided those sections and awarded N2 million cost against the ZLP.

What are these provisions under contestation?

Section 77(5) provides that only members whose names are contained in the register submitted to INEC at least 21 days before a primary, congress or convention can vote or be voted for. Section 77(6) requires parties to use that submitted register, while Section 77(7) prescribes the consequence for failure to submit: the party cannot field a candidate for that election. Section 84(2) provides for direct primaries or consensus.

Of course, this is where Nigerians must commend the Committees of the Whole of the National Assembly and give the chairmen their individual flowers.

For the layman, the Committee of the Whole is a small group meeting in a room. No. It is the entire House sitting as one committee during plenary. Members of the Parliament are also the members of the Committee.

For the House of Representatives, the Speaker vacates at some point in the proceedings. Then, the Mace which is the symbol of authority of the House, is lowered, rules become flexible, quorum deemphasized while proceedings are now made informal such that members can speak over and over again, debating and proposing amendment to issues; and the Chairman, mounts the stage. In this case, the Deputy Speaker takes over the business.

For emphasis sake, this is the furnace where laws are made. This is the stage of crucibles. This is the point where the report of every committee, standing or ad hoc, after the public hearing is considered and thoroughly debated. This is where clause-by-clause consideration happens, where technical conflicts are resolved, where constitutional landmines are detected and defused. If a provision is removed at that stage, it dies. It never reaches the Third Reading. It never becomes law. This is where the gavel works better and where it goes, the last gavel before Third Reading is the most technical gavel in the entire legislative process.

Then, for the analytical mind, to chair the committee demands more than fleeting floor politics. It demands experience and deep knowledge of Nigerian laws, especially constitutional law, to know the boundaries of the supreme law and the encroachment, if any, by parliamentary legislation. Here, the Chairman displays tact and finesse. He places the House rule book, the Constitution and the Bill before him to synthesize and evaluate. He must also be conscious of the extant laws to avoid conflicts.

That is exactly the suspicion the petitioners in the case above raised, that Sections 77 and 84 encroached and interfered with Sections 221 and 222 of the Constitution on party internal affairs.

Indeed, it takes constitutional appreciation to distinguish regulating for transparency from interfering with the internal affairs of the parties. It takes the galvanization of critical mass of expertise, technical know-how, the foreknowledge, the legal interpretation to call in the appropriate play here.

That line is what the Committee of the Whole, chaired by the Deputy Speaker in the House and the Senate President in the Senate have had to hold.

And so, when pressure came and debates reached their apogee and almost became weaponized to force the removal of the innovative provisions in the amended electoral act, the Deputy Speaker did not yield. He stood his grounds. Supported by the intrisic knowledge of the law, he hit the gavel and cleared the Electoral Act 2026 to move forward.

On the Senate side, the President of the Senate, as Chairman of its Committee of the Whole, did the same. They protected the innovation.

When all the contestations filled the judicial space, from the Federal High Court which correctly dismissed the ZLP case on May 5, 2026, to the Court of Appeal which erroneously voided the provisions, the Deputy Speaker assured that the apex court would do diligent work in filtering what the petitioners assumed against what the purposive intention of the legislature was.

Today, the Supreme Court has proved him right. It has proven that the gavel of the Deputy Speaker and that of the President of the Senate went down for the right reason, to protect and advance our democracy. The court affirmed that the requirements for membership registers and primary election procedures fall within the constitutional framework for regulating political parties and are not unconstitutional.

For once, let us imagine that, if due to pressure, the Chairmen of the Committees of the Whole yielded and struck out those sections, the country would have innovated nothing. We would have added nothing new to our laws. We would have left our electoral system open to last-minute delegate importation and register manipulation. We would not have advanced our democracy through this lane.

This is victory for our Parliament and the members, victory for the People’s House, and victory for the Nigerian people.

What this victory via the ruling of the Supreme Court translates to is clear. Political parties must now keep cleaner, verifiable registers of their members. The era of party members appearing from nowhere on the day of primaries is over. It translates to INEC having firmer legal ground to enforce discipline. It translates to direct accountability to the members whose names are in the register submitted to INEC.

Of course, with the ruling, the Electoral Act 2026 has survived its greatest test. The parliament pinned it together, the Committee of the Whole refined it, the Deputy Speaker and the Senate President protected it with their gavels, and the Supreme Court has sealed it.

This democratic victory has permeated one value that in our clime and time, democracy soars.

*Nwachukwu, a public analyst and commentator writes from Umuahia, Abia State capital