ADC rejects INEC’s revised 2027 election timetable, alleges plot to favour Tinubu

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected the revised 2027 general election timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

It alleges that the schedule was designed to favour President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.

INEC had fixed January 16, 2027, for the presidential and National Assembly elections, while governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections were scheduled for February 6, 2027.

The commission also set April 21 as the deadline for political parties to submit their membership registers and May 30 for the conduct of party primaries.

However, in a statement on Friday,  Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC spokesperson described the revised timetable as a political strategy intended to weaken opposition parties ahead of the 2027 elections.

According to him, “what has been presented as a routine administrative schedule of the upcoming general elections is, in fact.

“A political instrument carefully structured to narrow democratic space and strengthen the hand of the incumbent administration ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“These are not housekeeping rules. They are deliberately constructed barriers to exclude opposition from partaking in the coming election.”

He said that provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, particularly the requirement for parties to submit digital membership registers within a stipulated period, could exclude opposition parties from participating in the elections.

Abdullahi further alleged that the All Progressives Congress had begun compiling its digital membership register long before the new law came into effect.

He added, “this is not a product of foresight, but insider knowledge. They knew what was coming.

“They therefore had one whole year to carry out an exercise that they expect other political parties to execute in one month, during which they must collect, process and collate vast digital data and transmit the same to INEC by the deadline under the threat of total exclusion. This is more or less a practical impossibility.”

He described the situation as unfair to opposition parties and warned that democratic competition requires equal opportunities for all contestants.

The ADC spokesperson said the party had joined other opposition groups in rejecting the Electoral Act 2026 and the election timetable derived from it.

Abdullahi added that the party would not legitimise what it described as a flawed electoral process.

He also called on Nigerians and civil society organisations to scrutinise the timetable and demand fairness in the electoral process.