September 20, (THEWILL) – One month after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, officially lifted the ban on presidential campaigns on August 19, 2026, electioneering is yet to get competitive. According to the Commission’s schedule of activities and timeline for the 2027 general election, the presidential and national assembly elections would be held on January 16, 2027, while governorship and assembly polls come up on February 6.
Investigation shows that an internal party crisis over substitution of candidates, shifting alliances within parties, and funding is standing in the way of major political parties, especially the opposition African Democratic Congress, ADC, and the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, in composing their campaign structures and fixing the interests of various stakeholders across the country.
Even the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, which has since constituted its presidential campaign council, embarked on subtle, pre-electioneering grassroots campaign through groups like City Boy Movements, Renewed Hope Project 2027, rebranded Southwest Agenda for Asiwaju, SWAGA, 2. O, and interventions across the six geo-political zones by First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, are also going full blast, like it did during the 2023 polls. President Bola Tinubu’s absence, away in Europe for a three-week annual leave, has robbed the campaign council of its vibrancy, leading to squabbles by competing interests.
Pundits say the recent public rift between the APC governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike, over campaign structure for Tinubu’s re-election is one major implication of the importance of the President’s presence during electioneering. Thus, the major parties may differ in their war chest, structure, and spread across the country, but they converge on their slow approach to campaigning for the upcoming 2027 general election.
With the general election coming up in January, the months October and November are the time left for effective campaign as December festivities often take some shine off electioneering.
THE CHALLENGE OF FUND, INTERNAL CRISIS
Though the Electoral Act 2026 imposes campaign spending limits for each office, raising the money might prove difficult for political parties that lack elected officials in government, such as governors, senior and junior lawmakers, and support from big business and the corporate world, which carefully and strategically monitor where they put their money.
In a country where campaigning is highly capital-intensive for advertising, the hiring of venues for campaigns, the movement of supporters, payment for party agents, mobilizing the grassroots and staying in the campaign stretch.
For the APC, which has the presidency, 31 state governors in sharp contrast to the Allied People’s Movement and Accord Party, which have two and one, respectively, sources of ready and available funds will not be a problem. But for its main challengers like the ADC and NDC, which have few lawmakers, resorting to pooled funds might be the most strategic decision.
In another light, a party like the NDC was, until Friday, September 18, 2026, practically in a limbo. The Appeal Court judgment that restored the party’s registration breathed fresh life into it and restored its confidence to forge ahead with the election.
“The legal dispute over registration of our party is the distraction that has slowed down our campaigns for the upcoming election,” National Publicity Secretary of the NDC, Osa Director, told THEWILL in a brief interview on Friday. “I am in a meeting now as I am speaking with you after we received the good news of the judgment of the Appeal Court this evening.”
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, in a majority decision delivered that Friday, set aside the June 26, 2026 judgment of Justice Isah Dashen of the Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, which had nullified the NDC’s registration.
The ruling effectively restores the position created by an earlier judgment of the same Federal High Court delivered on December 10, 2025, directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the NDC as a political party.
The latest decision followed an appeal by the NDC against the June judgment, which had reversed the earlier order recognising the party.
At the centre of the dispute was whether the Federal High Court could revisit and effectively overturn its own final judgment after it had directed INEC to register the NDC.
The Court of Appeal majority held that the lower court erred by entertaining a matter that sought to overturn its earlier judgment.
The appellate court found that the subsequent decision amounted to an improper exercise of judicial power, given that the Federal High Court had already delivered a final judgment on the issue.
The legal battle also involved a dispute over the symbol used by the NDC, with the Peace Movement Party (PMP) claiming that the logo belonged to it.
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The Court of Appeal dismissed the claims surrounding the disputed symbol, clearing another major obstacle that had featured in the Federal High Court proceedings. The dispute dates back to December 10, 2025, when Justice Dashen ordered INEC to register the NDC as a political party.
The order followed legal proceedings challenging the electoral commission’s position on the party’s registration.
The decision subsequently came under challenge from the PMP, which argued that the NDC’s registration involved a logo that belonged to it. The PMP also contended that it had an interest in the matter and ought to have been joined in the original proceedings before the court issued the order directing INEC to register the NDC.
Justice Dashen, in his June 26, 2026 judgment, accepted the argument and reversed the effect of his earlier decision.
The Federal High Court ruling effectively threw the NDC’s registration into doubt at a time when political parties were already preparing for the 2027 election.
The NDC subsequently approached the Court of Appeal, arguing that the Federal High Court could not sit as an appellate court over its own final judgment.
In its latest judgment, the Court of Appeal agreed with the NDC on the central issue. The majority held that the Federal High Court had exceeded its judicial powers by revisiting its earlier final judgment and setting aside the order directing INEC to register the NDC.
The appellate court consequently set aside the June 26 judgment and restored the position created by the December 10, 2025 judgment.
The decision removes the immediate uncertainty surrounding the NDC’s legal status as the party prepares for the 2027 general election.
The Court of Appeal also dismissed the arguments relating to the disputed logo, which had formed an important part of the proceedings before the Federal High Court.
The majority decision therefore clears both the registration dispute and the immediate legal challenge connected to the party’s symbol.
With the 2027 election drawing closer, the ruling gives the NDC a clearer legal position from which to continue its political activities, candidate mobilisation and preparations for the election. With the stability of the party restored by the appellate court, the party may now turn its attention to dealing with the internal crisis over the substitution of candidates.
This development reached its head on August 31, 2026, when the party’s National Chairman Senator Cleopas Zuwoghe accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of “publishing unauthorised names in many constituencies.” Although INEC had promised to investigate the allegation, it stated that it lacked the power to substitute candidates, throwing the problem back to the party.
A party chieftain in Lagos, however, confided in THEWILL that the national leadership of the party is working round the clock to resolve the matter between the September 19, 2026 deadline for the withdrawal and replacement of candidates nominated by political parties and November 145, 2026, when INEC will publish the final list of candidates for the governorship and House of Assembly poll. According to the source, groups and candidates in their respective states have already set up their campaign committees independent of the national leadership, pointing to last week, nationwide campaign committee was launched by the Obi-Kwankwaso Movement, an independent support structure for Obi and his deputy, Kwankwaso.
REACTIONS
Responding to enquiries by THEWILL, National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party was on course with its programmes for the general election. He said the party was being strategic in rolling out its programmes, mindful of the election timetable.
“It is strategic. We cannot start running now and burn out. We need to do everything we need to be doing, like getting the right structure,” he said, adding that all the major parties are more or less following the same script strategically, given the duration of the campaign. “After all, the presidential candidate of the APC is not in the country, and that has also affected their campaigns.”
He said the party has no problem with funding and added that the party will launch its campaign committee “in the coming week. There is no need to rush. You saw what happened to APC, when they had to withdraw their campaign council a few hours after they announced it. We want to avoid such a problem.”
His NDC counterpart, Director, also harped on strategy in the party’s approach to its campaign even though he admitted that the legal battle over its registration and the crisis generated by substitution of candidates had distracted the party for a long time.
“It is not how far, but how well. We have done composing our campaign council, and the court judgement on Friday removed the major distraction. Between the end of September and the first week in October, we would announce our campaign council committee. We have asked our state candidates to commence campaigning. You saw what happened in Rivers State recently when our governorship candidate, Lulu Briggs, organised a town hall. Another one is coming on in Kaduna and then others will follow.”
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
