Opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), have called on the National Assembly to amend the 2026 Electoral Act. The demand emerged from a communique issued after a national summit of opposition party leaders in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Saturday. The parties said the Act contains provisions that threaten the integrity of the 2027 general elections and conflict with constitutional principles.
Tanimu Turaki, factional national chairman of the PDP, urged immediate review of the law. "The National Assembly should immediately review the Electoral Act, 2026, to remove all sections that threaten the sanctity and integrity of the elections and run counter to constitutional provisions," he said. The opposition also rejected what they described as attempts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to impose a one-party state. "We shall resist all machinations by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to foist a one-party state on Nigeria and fight for the survival of multi-party democracy in our country," Mr Turaki added.
The coalition demanded the release of politicians detained on bailable offences, saying their rights to participation must be upheld. They also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend the deadline for party primaries to July 31, 2026, calling the existing May 30 cutoff a barrier "deliberately engineered to impose conditions and deadlines on the opposition parties."
Tanimu Turaki claims the Electoral Act undermines democracy, yet his own party has backed similar rules in past elections. The call for a July 2026 primary deadline comes months after PDP's internal primaries concluded under the same timeline it now opposes. If the Act is truly flawed, why did PDP not challenge it before the 2023 elections? The demand now appears less about fairness and more about recalibrating opposition strategy for 2027.
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