DID YOU KNOW? Electoral Act 2026 limits courts from entertaining suits on party internal affairs

 

For years, Nigerian politicians have turned to the courts to resolve internal party disputes, from leadership tussles to candidate nominations. 

This pattern has shaped electoral outcomes and, at times, destabilised the democratic process.

However, the Electoral Act 2026 insulates party affairs from judicial interference.

Section 83 (5) of the Electoral Act 2026 states that “no court in Nigeria shall entertain jurisdiction over any suit or matter about the internal affairs of a political party”.

Subsection 6 further stipulates that where such action is brought in negation of the Act, “no interim or interlocutory injunction shall be entertained by the court, but the court shall suspend its ruling and deliver it at the stage of final judgment and shall give accelerated hearing to the matter”.

As a punishment to deter party members and their lawyers from dragging a political party to court over its internal affairs, the law prescribes heavy financial penalties.

Section 83 (6) (b) mandates that, at the conclusion of the case, the court must impose a minimum cost of N10 million each on the lawyer who filed the suit and the plaintiff or applicant. It also requires them to cover any costs incurred by the commission, including solicitors’ fees, where it is joined as a party.

In section 88(4), the Electoral Act goes further to explicitly bar courts from halting primaries or general elections pending the determination of a suit.

“Nothing in this section shall empower the courts to stop the holding of primaries or general elections under this Act pending the determination of a suit,” the section reads.