The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed 10 May 2026 as deadline for political parties to submit their updated digital membership registers. By implication, failure to comply with this directive is not a mere administrative slip—it goes to the root of a party’s legal standing to sponsor candidates for elections. Any political party that fails this condition precedent risks being shut out of the 2027 general elections.
AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (ADC)
The ADC is already entangled in a clear leadership crisis with direct legal consequences.
First, the judgment of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik delivered on 28 April 2026 has restrained INEC from recognising the Senator David Mark-led leadership structure. In law, once recognition is suspended by a court order, such leadership loses the legal capacity to act for and on behalf of the party in any official dealings, including submission of statutory documents to INEC.
Second, there is a pending matter before the Federal High Court, Abuja, instituted by Nafiu Bala Gombe challenging the legitimacy of the current leadership structure led by Senator David Bonaventure Mark and others. Once a matter touches on leadership validity and control of a political party, everything built on that structure becomes legally fragile and subject to nullification depending on the final judgment.
The hard legal question is simple: who has lawful authority—supported by a valid court-recognised structure—to sign, certify, and submit ADC’s digital register to INEC before the deadline?
Until that question is resolved, the party remains in legal paralysis.
PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP)
The PDP is also facing serious internal compliance issues with direct electoral consequences.
Reports indicate that congresses at various levels have been cancelled, disputed, or not properly concluded in line with the party constitution and INEC guidelines. In electoral law, party congresses and primaries are not ceremonial—they are the legal foundation for nomination of candidates.
Where congresses are defective or inconclusive, it follows that any resulting primaries may be invalid. And where primaries are invalid, INEC has no lawful basis to accept such candidates.
In simple legal terms: no valid congress, no valid primary; no valid primary, no valid candidate list.
Both ADC and PDP are not just facing political challenges—they are confronted with legal questions that go to their survival as electoral actors.
Between court orders, leadership disputes, and failure of internal democratic processes, the risk is clear: inability to comply with INEC’s mandatory registration timeline may not just affect participation—it may completely shut the door against them in the 2027 general elections.
