•Saliu, Kolo Jiya defected after contesting primaries in APC
•G15 members were not in PDP register at least ’21 days’ ahead of primaries, substitution of names
•Party giving members, public false hope
Supreme Court on Thursday has restored the disputed Electoral Act provisions after it granted Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) a landmark judgement, validating that there is no disparity between the Nigerian constitution and the provisions of Electoral Act 2026.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday, 24 September, 2026, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court allowed INEC’s appeal and set aside the Court of Appeal’s decision nullifying Sections 77(5), (6), (7), and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026.
The ruling restored the provisions governing political party membership registers and candidate nomination, including the requirement to submit membership registers to INEC at least 21 days before primaries, congresses or conventions.
It was said that only members listed in the submitted register were eligible to vote and be voted for in those exercises.
This development notably affects those who had earlier contested primaries in one political party but later defected to another party to pick their tickets for the 2027 polls.
In Kwara, both Senator Saliu Mustapha and Kolo Baba Jiya joined PDP after contesting and losing guber and senatorial primaries respectively in APC in May 2026.
Following their loss, they resigned from the APC on August 14th and were declared winners of the PDP’s senatorial primaries a week later— less than 10 days after joining the party.
Due to the Supreme Court’s restoration of Section 77, the tickets have been billed to face a fatal legal hurdle.
The PDP’s membership register for the 2027 cycle was due to be submitted to INEC 21 days before its primaries.
As new members who joined on August 14th, their names could not have been on any register submitted by the PDP before its primaries held between May and June 2026, as required by Section 77(5) and (6).
The apex court, which reinstated the Federal High Court’s dismissal of ZLP’s suit and awarded N2 million cost against the party, effectively closed the window for what political actors call “party-hopping for tickets.”
*Legal woes ahead of G15 members in Kwara*
Although PDP have argued that they didn’t conduct fresh primaries, but did substitution of names, the new supreme court judgement entailed that an aspirant must be a member of the party 21 days before the primaries. A substitute candidate, which is deemed a member before the law, must be in the party register 21 days before primaries.
The new judgement will cast attention on the suit filed before the Federal High Court in Ilorin by a PDP member, Abdulrasaq Kayode Musa vs PDP, Senator Saliu Mustapha & INEC. The plaintiff had asked the court to determine whether Mustapha was eligible to contest, seeking his disqualification and cancellation of the controversial primaries.
With the case set to light up in the new month, it is being widely said that the latest supreme court judgement set a precedent on the matters.
Several top lawyers have opined that it is a matter of time before the courts ordered INEC to disqualify all candidates whose names were not on the pre-submitted register at the time of nomination in line with the provision of the new Electoral Act 2026.
Many PDP–G15 candidates, including Saliu Mustapha, Kolo Jiya and other substituted assemby candidates will not be on the ballots in 2027 polls.
Meanwhile, PDP have passed an internal communication to the top leaders of the party to continue to deny that the new court judgement will affect their candidates, in order not to lose the trust of the public and the G15 members in the state.
