Pending cases before the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal over leadership crises rocking parties, coupled with defections, are among concerns trailing frantic moves by political parties to beat the deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the submission of digital membership register.

Some stakeholders in the main opposition parties believe the judgments of the courts to be delivered this week could impact on the ongoing efforts by them to comply with the deadline or restrategise toward having candidates for 2027 elections.

Section 77 (2) of the Electoral Act 2026, signed on February 18 by President Bola Tinubu, mandates parties to submit a comprehensive digital membership register to the commission at least 21 days before the conduct of primaries.

Under the law, the register must contain name, sex, date of birth, address, state, local government, ward, polling unit, national identity number and photograph of party members in hard and soft copies.

Section 77 (5) of the Electoral Act provides that only members whose names are contained in the register shall be eligible to vote and be voted for in party primaries, congresses and conventions.

According to section 77(7), a party that fails to submit the membership register within the stipulated time “shall not be eligible to field a candidate” during elections.

Despite their initial vehemence against the new provision in the electoral law, major opposition parties have, for the past few weeks, stepped up moves on the compilation of the registers.

Both the African Democratic Congress (APC) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are intensifying efforts to meet the INEC deadline.

As issues concerning the INEC deadline rage across the parties, the leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that there was no cause for alarm as it has put the necessary machinery in motion to produce a digital membership register in line with the electoral law.

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, SDP national publicity secretary, Araba Rufus Ayenigba, explained that the party is fully prepared to meet all the conditions outlined by the commission.

“There’s no cause for concern on this; we are ready for the commission. In fact, the commission’s officials will be visiting our national secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday for further verification; we are a step ahead of the commission.”

Speaking against the background of apparent heightened concerns being expressed by stakeholders about the INEC deadline, NNPP national publicity, Barrister Ladipo Johnson, said the party was making frantic efforts to beat the deadline for the submission of digital membership register of the NNPP to the commission.

He said despite issues thrown up by the defection of some politicians from the party, the membership registration exercise was in progress to meet up with INEC timeline.

“The NNPP registration has been going on and we have a feeling that we will bring our registration to a close within the INEC timeline,” the spokesman of the party told the Nigerian Tribune.

“Naturally, we have had some members pulling out to join the ranks of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) due to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s movement. However, the process is ongoing as I stated earlier.”

Similarly, his counterpart in the Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party, Pastor Obiora Iloh, lamented that the series of litigation over leadership crisis rocking the party has impacted negatively on the membership registration exercise.

It would be recalled that last December, the Labour Party had declared that it had recorded millions of registrants in its electronic membership registration.

The Kataka committee of the LP announced a continuous membership drive aimed at strengthening grassroots structures nationwide.

But, Iloh decried that the initial success had been hampered by the court matters triggered by the protracted power struggle between two tendencies in the Labour Party.

The national leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Seriaka Dickson, has equally announced that he was collaborating with the national chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas, to fast-track the party’s digital membership register exercise unveiled on March 16.

He described the digital register as a modern, simplified, and user-friendly platform designed to enable Nigerians register as members of NDC, both within Nigeria and in the Diaspora.

Members who had previously registered with the party are advised not to register again, as their existing membership details will be migrated to the new digital portal. The ADC also unveiled a free nationwide online membership portal accessible via www.adcregistration.ng which its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said is central to the party’s preparations for its congresses, conventions and the general election.

According to the ADC, only members whose data are properly captured and verified on the new system will be eligible to participate in its primaries, in keeping with the demands of Section 77. (Nigerian Tribune)

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