Straight Talk by Obinna F. Nwachukwu
It has often been said that you can be very smart, but you cannot be just too smart to be able to outsmart and fool everyone at the same time.
When the National Assembly amended the Electoral Act and inserted Section 77 of the Act, they did so with the intention that the Act would help them checkmate overly ambitious politicians from defecting to other political parties to chase their ambitions, even when injustice had been meted out to them by unnecessarily manipulating them out of the primary election of their political party.
Immediately the Act was passed, INEC, as usual, did not disappoint. The Commission quickly backed the National Assembly by issuing guidelines which stated that every political party must first give INEC a 21-day notice before conducting its primaries.
But it did not stop there.
Political parties were further mandated to submit a digital register of their members before they could conduct any primary election. Failure to do so within the stipulated time, which INEC fixed as 10th of May, or the omission of any party member from the submitted register, would automatically render the primary election of that party null and void.
At that point, INEC and the National Assembly believed they had perfected everything. They thought they had successfully cornered and estopped aggrieved politicians, especially those affected by the recent APC primary elections, from defecting to another political party.
But unknown to them, a political party known as “Youth Party” had quietly dragged INEC before Justice Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Their argument was simple but explosive.
They argued that although the Electoral Act gave INEC the power to receive notifications from political parties before conducting conventions and primary elections, that power, however, was only meant to enable INEC to monitor the activities of political parties and nothing more.
The Youth Party further argued that upon a detailed consideration of Sections 29, 31, 32, 82, 84(1) and 98 of the Electoral Act, INEC had no power whatsoever to go outside the provisions of the law and begin issuing guidelines that dictate when politicians can defect into another political party, when parties can conduct their primaries, when they must submit the names of their members, or even when campaigns must stop.
According to them, those sections of the Electoral Act had already clearly stipulated the timelines for submission of candidates’ names and the period for political campaigns.
Therefore, INEC could not arrogate to itself powers beyond what the law expressly provided by issuing guidelines that practically controlled and strangled political parties.
They then asked Justice Umar to declare all the guidelines earlier issued by INEC null and void for being undemocratic and completely against the spirit and intention of the Electoral Act.
Justice Umar did not even waste time before aligning himself with the arguments of the Youth Party. In a judgment that has now sent shockwaves across the political space, he struck down all the guidelines issued by INEC and declared them null and void.
Now, the implications of that judgment are massive.
First, the transfer window across political parties has effectively reopened for politicians who may wish to dump their parties and move elsewhere.
Secondly, no political party is under any immediate pressure or compulsion to submit the names or particulars of its candidates to INEC until 120 days before the election.
Thirdly, political parties can still substitute the names of their candidates before 90 days to the election, and INEC will be legally bound to accept such substitutions.
However, there is one major issue Justice Umar did not address because it was not placed before the court.
He did not make any pronouncement on the fate of politicians who have already participated in the primary election of one political party and whether they can still participate in another party’s primary election.
The implication now is this: while politicians who were merely screened out or disqualified at the screening stage can still defect and participate in the primaries of another political party, those who have already contested in one party’s primary election cannot participate in another primary election again.
As it stands, every wise politician who has been disqualified is expected to immediately take advantage of this judgment while INEC is yet to appeal it. And trust me, INEC will most certainly appeal.
But the danger is that the Court of Appeal may eventually take a different position entirely. And by the time that happens, it may already be too late for many politicians who failed to seize the moment.
Indeed, when the National Assembly was hurriedly passing the 2026 Electoral Act into law, many of us called them out and demanded a total scrutiny of some of the provisions we considered highly undemocratic.
But the members of the National Assembly were so carried away by the promise of automatic tickets from the President that they were almost ready to turn a man into a woman as long as it pleased the Presidency.
In practical terms, if a politician loses a primary election in “Party A,” they cannot immediately jump to “Party B” to contest for another ticket. Why? Because Party B’s register would have already been legally locked weeks earlier, meaning the defector’s name would be missing from the register, thereby rendering any nomination he will get in “Party B” null and void.
But the National Assembly did not stop there.
They knew some politicians are extremely stubborn and can go to any length to get what they want, so they went further to criminalize the process by stating that an individual cannot hold concurrent membership in more than one political party. They also made it a criminal offence for anyone to knowingly register or maintain dual membership in two political parties before the primary season, with a punishment of one year imprisonment or option of fine.
Contrary to the spirit of freedom of association and as undemocratic as those provisions were, the 109 Senators and 360 House of Representatives members still accepted and passed them into law because they believed they had secured automatic tickets for themselves.
Unfortunately for them, APC beat them at their own game.
The same law they celebrated has now become the perfect weapon to stylishly retire some greedy politicians who saw the dangers ahead but chose to keep quiet because of personal interest.
With APC primaries taking an unexpected turn, many politicians are heading into permanent political retirement after 2027 because they were either not cleared or failed to secure tickets through the primaries.
And the funniest part of it all is this: they cannot even complain.
Because this is the same law they made with their own hands, and today, that same law has returned to hunt them mercilessly.
NATASHA AKPOTI-UDUAGHAN VS THE WHITE LION
Many people will be wondering why Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of all people chose to align with the People’s Democratic Party faction led by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chief Nyesom Wike to run for Senate.
The truth is; Senator Natasha is not in Wike’s camp because she believes they have moral or legal claim over the party leadership. Far from that. Natasha is in that camp to battle for her political destiny and survival.
She didn’t join the NDC because she understands that what she needs at this moment is not the popularity of Peter Obi or Rabiu Kwankwaso. She knows that in a fair contest, her own popularity is strong enough to earn her a seat in the Senate for the second time.
But Natasha also understands that popularity is not her biggest problem.
Her biggest problem is how to checkmate the White Lion called Yahaya Bello from manipulating the election against her.
Natasha knows that Yahaya Bello will do anything to brush her out of the way, no matter how popular she is. She has seen the same fate handed over to Dino Melaye and many others. She has seen a situation where an entire sector of road was allegedly destabilized under his watch as Governor simply because ballots were not meant to get to areas where his popularity was not guaranteed.
So, what should Natasha do in this kind of situation? Simple! The Kogi born amazon senator aligned with a greater force, one powerful enough to shield her and fight beside her.
Natasha understands that with Wike’s backing, no stronghold can easily keep her on the ground. She knows Wike is a fighter who stops at nothing when it comes to protecting his structure and confronting anyone who stands against it. She believes Wike will not hesitate to go head-to-head with Yahaya Bello if the battle demands it. That is why she has chosen her political vanities wisely.
At least, in politics, the best way to ward off evil is sometimes to align with a greater evil because morality alone cannot earn you political positions.